■' t 




•tmnm fj-ajjers. 



C5^ 



7 



THE 



MEMORIAL: 



CIRCULAR AND QUESTIONS 



episcopal commission; 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSION; CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE 

COMMISSIONERS; AND COMMUNICATIONS FROM 

EPISCOPAL AND NON-EPISCOPAL DIVINES. 



WITH AN IN'.'HODUCilU^, BY 

KT. KEV. ALONZO POTTER, D.D., 

ONE OF THE COMMISSION. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY E. H. BUTLER & CO. 

1857. 



% : 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

E. H. BUTLER ■& CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and 
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 






CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 5 

MEMORIAL 25 

CIRCULAR AND QUESTIONS 33 

REPORT OF COMMISSION ....... 41 

CONTRIBUTIONS OF COMMISSIONERS. 

Bishop Doane, (N. J.) . . . . . 83 

Bishop Potter, (Pa.) ........ 101 

Bishop Burgess, (Maine) . . . . . . 113 

Bishop "Williams, Assistant, (Conn.) ..... 140 

COMMUNICATIONS. 
I. Episcopal Divines. 

Bishop Meade, (Ya.) ....... 153 

Bishop Polk, (La.) \ . . . . . . 157 

Bishop Freeman, (Arkansas) ...... 169 

Bishop Upfold, (Indiana) ...... 188 

Bishop Scott, (Oregon) ....... 206 

Dr. Bowman, (Lancaster, Pa.) ..... 220 

Dr. A. Cleveland Coxe, (Baltimore, Md.) .... 226 

Dr. Craik, (Louisville, Ky.) ...... 231 

Dr. Harry Croswell. (New Haven, Conn.) .... 238 

(3) 



IV 



Contents. 



COMMUNICATIONS (Continued) 

Dr. Samuel Fuller, (Andover, Mass.) . . , 

Dr. Henry Gregory, (Syracuse, N. Y.) ... 

Dr. M. A. De Wolfe Howe, (Philadelphia) . 

Dr. Wm. H. Lewis, (Brooklyn, N. Y.) . 

Dr. W. A. Muhlenberg, (New York City) . 

Dr. W. H. Odenheimer, (Philadelphia) 

Dr. Paul Trapier, (Charleston, S. C.) 

Dr. Edwin M. Van Deusen, (Pittsburgh, Pa.) . 

Dr. Francis Vinton, (New York City) 

Rev. J. F. Young, Assistant, Trinity Church, (New York City) 

II. Non-Episcopal Divines. 

From a Presbyterian Divine (Old School) . . 

From a Presbyterian Divine (Old School) 
From a Congregational Divine . . . 

From a Baptist Divine ..... 

From a German Reformed Divine .... 

From a Methodist Divine ..... 



page 
246 
250 
255 
2G1 
274 
290 
297 
323 
329 



417 

420 
422 
425 
429 
435 



INTRODUCTION. 



The subjects discussed in this volume are of common interest 
to all Christians. How to qualify ministers of the Gospel to 
deal more successfully with the social necessities and the ethi- 
cal and theological problems of the day — how to secure a more 
effective Christian nurture for the rising generation — how, by 
healthy and legitimate means, to render the Sanctuary and its 
services more attractive to young men — how to get from our 
laity more active co-operation in the work of evangelizing the 
irreligious, and building up in the faith those who name the 
name of Christ — in one word, how to secure for our own land, 
and for the world, a more pervading, interpenetrating life- 
power through the Gospel, are questions which belong exclu- 
sively to no one class or body of Christians. They are discussed 
here more immediately in connection with the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church ; but the principles involved concern all churches, 
and all earnest men. The discussion has the advantage of 
being conducted by a variety of independent minds, occupying 
different stand-points, and having a " diversity of gifts." The 
views presented, too, are in conformity with no foregone conclu- 
sion ; but are the outspoken opinions of those who differ much 
now, and who can be brought to agree only through frank and 
kindly discussion. 

1 * (5) 



vi The Memorial Papers. 

A few words will explain the origin of the following papers. 

The General Convention, held in New York, October, 1853, 
was marked by many signs of awakened zeal. Among these 
may be reckoned the inquiries which were raised by a Memorial, 
signed by several distinguished Presbyters, and presented to the 
Bishops, It suggested the general question, whether " the pos- 
ture of our Church, with reference to the great moral and social 
necessities of the day," was all that could be desired or expected. 
It suggested, more especially, the inquiry whether her useful- 
ness might not be enlarged by relaxing somewhat the rigidity 
of her Liturgical services, and by conferring her Orders on con- 
ditions something less stringent. That the Memorial expressed 
a widely prevalent feeling (one, however, of inquiry rather than 
of conviction) may be inferred from the fact* that it was referred 
by an unusually large majority of Bishops (20 to 4) to a Com- 
mission, with instructions " to take into consideration the sub- 
ject thereof, receive any further communications in relation to 
the same, and report to the next General Convention." 

The Commission consisted originally of five Bishops, but was 
subsequently enlarged by the addition of a sixth. The lamented 

*The general interest in this subject may be inferred also from the subsequent 
action of Diocesan Conventions, a large number of which proclaimed the solicitude 
with which they awaited a Report upon it. For instance, the Diocese of Rhode 
Island (1856);—" Resolved, that while protesting against crude and presumptuous 
changes, from the mere spirit of change, and against the poor delusion that life 
can be made only out of organizations, yet we earnestly sympathize with the wish 
of the Memorialists that the great Catholic idea of the Church of Christ may be 
fully developed by more thoroughly adapting it to all the wants of the country 
and the times ; and do, therefore, recommend the whole subject to the General 
Convention, for their most enlarged and thoughtful consideration." The Diocese 
of Pennsylvania (1856) ; — " Resolved, that the objects above contemplated (enlarged 
means of access to the neglected, and to Christians of other names,) are most desir- 
able in themselves ; that they appeal to the liveliest sympathies of the Christian 
heart, and that their grave consideration by the Chief Council of our Church will 
be an omen of prospective and future good. 

" Resolved, that this Convention commend these objects to the earnest thought, 
the enlarged charity, and conservative prudence of their Right Reverend Fathers, 
and their brethren, &c, &c." 



Introduction. vii 

death, however, of Bishop Wainwright, of New York, soon 
reduced it to its original number. It was composed of Bishops 
Otey, Doane, A. Potter, Burgess, and Williams. It met during 
the interval between the two General Conventions (of 1853 
and 1856) ; once at Hartford (Conn.), once at Newport (R. 
I.), twice at New York, and twice at Philadelphia. The con- 
clusions to which it was brought were adopted unanimously 
and will be found at the close of the Report (pp. 71-78). 

In applying itself to the question, how the capacity of the 
Church "to do the work of the Lord in this land and in this 
age" might be increased, the Commission felt bound to inquire 
first, whether essential improvements might not be reached 
without legislation, and without change in the Prayer Book, or 
in its use. Hence the Questions which stand first in the circu- 
lar which they issued after their first meeting. The second class 
of questions referred more directly to liturgical matters and to 
means which the Memorialists had suggested for enlarging the 
ranks of our ministry, and for promoting unity among all 
Christians, but especially among Protestants. 

The object of these inquiries w&sjirst, to ascertain as far as 
possible how far the more enlightened and influential of our 
people were prepared to sanction any change ; secondly, to gain 
for the Commissioners the aid of those who were best qualified 
to afford it, and who occupied various positions ; and thirdly, 
to present, not only to churchmen, but to others, subjects which 
merit more consideration than they have yet received. 

Among the Communications received in reply, are some from 
distinguished divines, not of our communion. They were 
obtained by the Editor on his own private responsibility, and 
are now published by him for the same reason that he obtained 
them. To gain a large and complete view of a subject, often 
requires the aid of those who are somewhat remote from the 
centre of agitation, and who live under the influence of different 
associations. He, therefore, applied to eminent clergymen of 
different names, most of whom he had known intimately in 



viii The Memorial Papers. 

former years. He felt that on the ground of ancient friend- 
ship, as well as of a common interest in the extension of the 
Gospel, he could count upon a full and frank expression of their 
opinions. He was not disappointed. There are few of the 
Communications which are likely to be read with more profit 
than those which close this volume, and which are from gentle- 
men in different parts of the country, representing five different 
denominations of Christians, and universally respected for their 
piety, zeal, and intellectual power. As they were mostly of a 
private and informal nature, he has not felt at liberty to publish 
the names of the writers. 

It is the occasion of much regret that several valuable Com- 
munications, made directly to the Commission, by clergy- 
men and laymen of our Church, have been excluded by the 
unexpected size to which this volume has grown. Had such a 
result been foreseen, a larger page and a smaller type would 
have been adopted. The Editor is not without hope that some, 
at least, of these papers will see the light hereafter. 

Some months before the Report of the Commission was 
made up, the Chairman requested each of the members to pre- 
pare a contribution towards it. To Bishop Doane was assigned 
the subject of Christian Education generally ; to A. Potter, 
Ordination and Church Comprehension ; to Bishop Burgess, the 
Liturgical Question ; to Bishop Williams, Ministerial Efficiency 
and Christian Brotherhood. As these papers express freely 
individual opinions, and as it was expedient to embody in the 
General Report nothing which all who signed it could not 
cordially adopt, these Contributions were reserved and presented 
to the House of Bishops as an appendix to the Report. They 
will be found immediately after it (pp. 81-150). 

In printing these papers as a contribution to the history of 
the Church, and as an offering on the altar of Christian unity 
and Christian zeal, it is hardly necessary to say that neither 
the Editor nor his associates on the Commission pledge them- 
selves to any opinions advanced, not avowedly their own. A 



Introduction. ix 

free fraternal discussion is all that is aimed at. It so happens 
that of the Communications unexpectedly omitted, a large pro- 
portion (being from the younger clergy or from laymen) plead 
for change, in one or more respects, more earnestly than most 
of those inserted. If it be thought that, even in these last, 
there is too much of free criticism, we must remember that to 
point out real or supposed faults is the ungrateful duty of all 
who would contribute to the highest welfare of their Church. 
If its human arrangements, or our mode of working them, be 
really defective, the defect will be known to others though we 
may conceal it from ourselves. If, on the other hand, the faults 
pointed out are imaginary, no permanent mischief can result 
from strictures which provoke inquiry, and which become 
powerless as soon as they are proved to be unjust. Should 
those without attempt an ungenerous use of such strictures, it 
will redound to their own discredit rather than to ours ; for few 
things command more respect or more confidence, than an 
ingenuous disposition to discover our defects and a resolute 
purpose to correct them. It may be added that a spirit of self- 
depreciation, and of change for the mere sake of change, is not 
that to which as a Communion we are most obnoxious. 

Only a part of the recommendations made by the Commission 
were acted on. Those which contemplated legislation (such 
for example as the proposed change in Canon XLV. of 1832, 
and the proposed additions to the Occasional Pray ers and Thanks- 
givings), were reached at too late a stage of the session to be 
considered with sufficient care. These, therefore, with the whole 
subject of Liturgical Revision, remain to be disposed of here- 
after. They will need the guidance of that calm and enlightened 
judgment which only time and discussion, and above all, God's 
grace, can secure. 

As finally adopted, the Preamble and Resolutions are as fol- 
lows: — 

Whereas, The use of the Book of Common Prayer, as regu- 
lated by custom, has special reference to established parish 



x The Memorial Papers. 

Churches and to a population already incorporated with the 
Church ; and whereas, our actual work is, or should be, among 
many not yet connected with our congregations, or where there 
are no established parishes, or where said parishes are yet in 
their infancy ; 

And whereas, There are or may be in different Dioceses, 
peculiar emergencies arising out of the character or condition 
of certain portions of the population which demand some special 
services ; 

And whereas. The Book of Common Prayer should be so used 
as most effectually to cherish true devotion and set forth the 
gospel and work of Christ, and contribute to the extension of 
his kingdom among men ; 

And whereas, The House of Bishops have heretofore expressed 
opinions as to usages which may be allowed under existing 
Rubrics and Canons : Therefore, 

Resolved, as the opinion of the Bishops, 

1. That the Order of the Morning Prayer, the Litany, and 
the Communion Service, being separate offices, may, as in 
former time-s, be used separately under the advice of the Bishop 
of the Diocese. 

2. That on special occasions, or at extraordinary services not 
otherwise provided for, ministers may, at their discretion, use 
such parts of the Book of Common Prayer, and such lesson or 
lessons from Holy Scripture, as shall in their judgment tend 
most to edification. 

3. That the Bishops of the several Dioceses may provide such 
special services as, in their judgment, shall be required by the 
peculiar spiritual necessities of any class or portion of the 
population within said Diocese: provided that such services 
shall not take the place of the services or offices of the Book of 
Common Prayer in congregations capable of its use. 

4. That in view of the desirableness of union amongst 
Christians, and as a pledge of willingness to communicate and 
receive information tending to that end, and in order to con- 



Introduction. xi 

ference, if occasion or opportunity should occur, this House will 
appoint, by ballot, a committee of five Bishops, as an organ of 
communication or conference with such Christian bodies or 
individuals as may desire it, to be entitled the Commission on 
Church Unity. 

5. That in making the above appointment, it is clearly under- 
stood that the Commission is clothed with no authority to 
mature plans of union with other Christian bodies, or to pro- 
pound expositions of doctrine and discipline. 

r Bishop Brownell, 



Committee under 
last resolutions. 



McIlvaine, 
A. Potter, 
Elliott, 
Burgess/' 



Two questions may be raised in respect to these Resolutions. 

1. What is their proper force and signification? 

2. Did not the Bishops transcend their powers in passing 
them, or even in entertaining the Memorial at all? 

This is not the place, nor in this volume is there room, for a 
full discussion of these questions. 

The Editor contents himself, therefore, with the three follow- 
ing remarks ; the justness of which, he thinks, will be vindicated 
by further reflection and experience. 

First. The Resolutions respecting the use of the Prayer Book 
express simply the opinion of the Bishops, as to what, under 
existing laws, is allowable. They do not recommend that 
such liberties be everywhere taken ; they merely recognise the 
right to take them, where there is sufficient occasion and where 
the right is exercised under proper limitations. 

Second. Such an opinion from such a source was, at this 
time, the best way of preventing rash and unauthorized changes 
in our worship, and yet supplying relief and facilities which 
are felt, by earnest workers, to be indispensable. 

Third. In giving such an opinion, the Bishops acted in con- 



xii The Memorial Papers. 

formity with their practice from the time the General Conven- 
tion was first established, with rights which belong to every 
co-ordinate branch of a Legislature, and with proprieties as 
well as rights, which independent of their relation to the Gene- 
ral Convention, pertain to them as the Fathers of the Church. 

A. P. 
Philadelphia, Jan. 13, 1857. 



fewrial 



MEMORIAL. 



TO THE BISHOPS OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
IN COUNCIL ASSEMBLED. 

Right Reverend Fathers: — 

The undersigned, presbyters of the Church of which 
you have the oversight, venture to approach your 
venerable body with an expression of sentiment, which 
their estimate of your office in relation to the times 
does not permit them to withhold. In so doing, they 
have confidence in your readiness to appreciate their 
motives and their aims. 

The actual posture of our Church, with reference to 
the great moral and social necessities of the day, pre- 
sents to the minds of the undersigned a subject of 
grave and anxious thought. Did they suppose that 
this was confined to themselves, they would not feel 
warranted in submitting it to your attention ; but, they 
believe it to be participated in by many of their breth- 
ren, who may not have seen the expediency of declar- 
ing their views, or at least a mature season for such a 
course. 

(27) 



28 The Memorial Papers. 

The divided and distracted state of our American 
Protestant Christianity ; the new and subtle forms of 
unbelief, adapting themselves with fatal success to the 
spirit of the age ; the consolidated forces of Roman- 
ism, bearing with renewed skill and activity against 
the Protestant faith ; and, as more or less the conse- 
quence of these, the utter ignorance of the Gospel 
among so large a portion of the lower classes of our 
population, making a heathen world in our midst : are 
among the considerations which induce your memori- 
alists to present the inquiry whether the period has not 
arrived for the adoption of measures, to meet these 
exigencies of the times, more comprehensive than any 
yet provided for by our present ecclesiastical system : 
in other words, whether the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, with only her present canonical means and 
appliances, her fixed and invariable modes of public 
worship, and her traditional customs and usages, is 
competent to the work of preaching and dispensing 
the Gospel to all sorts and conditions of men, and so 
adequate to do the work of the Lord in this land and 
in this age ? This question, your petitioners, for their 
own part, and in consonance with many thoughtful 
minds among us, believe must be answered in the nega- 
tive. Their memorial proceeds on the assumption that 
our Church, confined to the exercise of her present 
system, is not sufficient to the great purposes above 
mentioned ; that a wider door must be opened for 
admission to the Gospel ministry, than that through 
which her candidates for holy orders are now obliged 



Memorial. 29 

to enter. Besides such candidates among her own 
members, it is believed that men can be found among 
the other bodies of Christians around us, who would 
gladly receive ordination at your hands, could they 
obtain it without that entire surrender, w T hich would 
now be required of them, of all the liberty in public 
worship to which they have been accustomed ; men, 
who could not bring themselves to conform in all par- 
ticulars to our prescriptions and customs, but yet sound 
in the faith, and who, having the gifts of preachers 
and pastors, would be able ministers of the New Testa- 
ment. With deference it is asked, ought such an 
accession to your means, in executing your high com- 
mission, " Go into all the w T orld, and preach the Gospel 
to every creature," be refused, for the sake of con- 
formity in matters recognised in the preface to the 
Book of Common Prayer as unessentials ? Dare we 
pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers 
into the harvest, while we reject all labourers but those 
of one peculiar type ? The extension of orders to the 
class of men contemplated (with whatever safeguards, 
not infringing on evangelical freedom, which your 
wisdom might deem expedient), appears to your 
petitioners to be a subject supremely worthy of your 
deliberations. 

In addition to the prospect of the immediate good 
which would thus be opened, an important step would 
be taken towards the effecting of a Church unity in 
the Protestant Christendom of our land. To become 
a central bond of union among Christians, who, though 

3 * 



30 The Memorial Papers. 

differing in name, yet hold to the one Faith, the one 
Lord, and the one Baptism ; and, who need only such 
a bond to be drawn together in closer and more primi- 
tive fellowship, is here believed to be the peculiar 
province and high privilege of your venerable body as 
a College of Catholic and Apostolic Bishops as 
such. 

This leads your petitioners to declare the ultimate 
design of their memorial ; which is to submit the prac- 
ticability, under your auspices, of some ecclesiastical 
system, broader and more comprehensive than that 
which you now administer, surrounding and including 
the Protestant Episcopal Church as it now is, leaving 
that Church untouched, identical with that Church in 
all its great principles, yet providing for as much free- 
dom in opinion, discipline and worship, as is compatible 
with the essential faith and order of the Gospel. 
To define and act upon such a system, it is believed, 
must sooner or later be the work of an American 
Catholic Episcopate. 

In justice to themselves, on this occasion, your me- 
morialists beg leave to remark that, although aware 
that the foregoing views are not confined to their own 
small number, they have no reason to suppose that any 
other parties contemplate a public expression of them, 
like the present. Having therefore undertaken it, 
they trust that they have not laid themselves open to 
the charge of unwarranted intrusion. They find their 
w r arrant in the prayer now offered up by all our con- 
gregations, " that the comfortable Gospel of Christ 



Memorial. 81 

may be truly preached, truly received, and truly 
followed, in all places, to the breaking down the king- 
dom of Sin, Satan, and Death." Convinced that, for 
the attainment of these blessed ends, there must be 
some greater concert of action among Protestant 
Christians, than any which yet exists, and believing 
that, with you, Right Reverend Fathers, it rests to 
take the first measures tending thereto, your petitioners 
could not do less than humbly submit their memorial 
to such consideration as in your wisdom you may see 
fit to give it. Praying that it may not be dismissed 
without reference to a Commission, and assuring you, 
Right Reverend Fathers, of our dutiful veneration and 
esteem, 

We are, most respectfully, 
Your Brethren and Servants in the Gospel of Christ, 

W. A. Muhlenberg, 
C. F. Cruse, 
Philip Berry, 
Edwin Harwood, 
G. T. Bedell, 
Henry Gregory, 
Alex. H. Vinton, 
M. A. De Wolfe Howe, 
S. H. Turner, 
S. R. Johnson, 
C. W. Andrews, 
F. E. Lawrence, 

and others. 
New York, October 14th, 1853. 



32 The Memorial Papers. 

Concurring in the main purport of the above memo- 
rial, and believing that the necessities of the times call 
for some special efforts to promote unity among 
Christians, and to enlarge for that and other great 
ends the efficiency of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
but not being able to adopt certain suggestions of the 
memorial, the undersigned most heartily join in the 
prayer that the subject may be referred to a Commis- 
sion of your Venerable Body. 

John Henry Hobart, 
A. Cleveland Coxe, 
Ed. Y. Higbee, 
Francis Vinton, 
Isaac G. Hubbard, 

and others. 



$inuht mk gtetim 



CIRCULAR AND QUESTIONS. 



The Commission of Bishops appointed at the late 
Meeting of the General Convention, to consider and 
report upon a Memorial of sundry Presbyters (the 
Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg and others), touching the 
" actual posture of our Church with reference to the 
great moral and social necessities of the day," and 
" presenting the inquiry whether the period has not 
arrived for the adoption of measures to meet these 
moral exigencies more comprehensive than any yet 
provided for by our present Ecclesiastical system," 
would state, that they have had the same under con- 
sideration at a meeting held at New York, commencing 
June 29th, 1854, and lasting several days. 

The subject presented opens questions of the most 
momentous and comprehensive nature. It is the 
intention of the undersigned to bestow upon them 
patient and anxious consideration. That they may 
avail themselves of the aid and counsel of wise and 
good men in our own and other lands, and collect such 

(35) 



36 The Memorial Papers. 

information as may conduce to a more thorough appre- 
ciation and satisfactory adjustment of the whole matter 
submitted to them, they request your particular atten- 
tion to the Memorial which will be found on page 181 
of the Journal of the last General Convention; and 
also to the following questions. Your answer to any 
or all of these questions in detail, and your views 
generally of the best means of enlarging the efficiency 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and also of pro- 
moting unity among Christians, will greatly oblige 
the undersigned; and they would respectfully request 
that it may be sent in at your earliest convenience. 

The Commission stands adjourned to meet at Hart- 
ford, Conn., October 4th, 1854. 

Communications may be addressed to the Secretary 
of the Commission, the Rev. Prof. Johnson, General 
Theological Seminary, New York. 

Should your engagements render it impracticable 
to prepare your communication in season for the 
October meeting, it is expected that a further session 
will be held in Savannah early in February. 

James Hervey Otey, Chairman. 

George W. Doane, 

Alonzo Potter, 

George Burgess, 

John Williams, 

Jonathan M. Wainwright. 



Circular and Questions. 37 

QUESTIONS. 
I. 

1. Can the present method of preparing young 
men for the ministry in the P. E. Church be improved, 
in respect to learning, piety, intellectual power or 
practical efficiency ? If yea, please state how. 
Mention any remarkable facts respecting the training 
of ministers whom you have known to be specially 
useful and efficient. 

2. Could any change be advantageously made in 
the prevalent character of our preaching? If yea, 
state what, and by what means. What modes of 
instruction, besides sermons from the pulpit, have you 
found specially beneficial and effective ? 

3. How can the influence of our ministry be made 
to reach the multitudes now living without the Gospel 
in our own land and neighbourhood, (a) by social inter- 
course, (b) by extra parochial services, (c) by philan- 
thropic labours, &c, &c. ? 

4. Ought we, or ought we not, to have itinerating 
Evangelists, as well as settled Pastors ; also perma- 
nent Deacons, and a portion of the clergy more espe- 
cially devoted to theological and biblical studies ? 

5. Can any method for division of labour be sug- 
gested, by which persons of marked ability in a cer- 
tain line shall have their useful gift specially exercised 
to the edification of the Church ; and by which min- 
isters thrown out of parish life may yet be advanta- 
geously occupied ? 



38 The Memorial Papers. 

6. Is our present system of family, Sunday School, 
and catechetical instruction and training chargeable 
with any serious defects ? If yea, please state them ; 
suggest your opinion respecting the proper remedy. 

7. Ought or ought not our parish churches in large 
towns to be opened more frequently on the Lord's 
day ; and to different congregations at different hours ? 

8. What can be done for the religious instruction 
of boys when they leave the Sunday School ? 

9. Do the laymen and laywomen of our congrega- 
tions co-operate sufficiently with the pastor in the 
work of winning souls ? How can that co-operation 
be safely increased ? 

10. How can a spirit of true brotherly intercourse 
among our members be promoted ? 

11. Ought not young men to be seen in our churches 
in much larger number ? Please to suggest means. 

12. How can the proper influence of our Church 
over men engrossed in business be secured ? 

13. By what specific means can we increase ade- 
quately the pecuniary contributions of Churchmen to 
the work of evangelizing our own land, and the world 
at large ? Do we instruct our people sufficiently on 
the dangers and responsibilities involved in the pos- 
session of property ? 

II. 

1. Could changes be advantageously made in our 
Liturgical services ? 

(a.) By lengthening, shortening, or dividing ? 



Circular and Questions. 39 

(b.) By adapting the lessons, anthems, &c, better 
to the different ecclesiastical seasons ? 

(c.) By a larger number of special services and 
prayers for special occasions ? 

(d.) By a larger discretion in the use of hymns, 
and other sacred music ? 

(e.) By services specially fitted for missionary work 
at home or abroad ? 

(f.) By allowing the authorities of each Diocese 
larger liberty ? 

2. Should the conditions on which ministers are 
admitted to orders be prescribed exclusively by the 
General Convention ? 

3. Ought the conditions now imposed on candidates, 
who have been licensed or ordained in other Protest- 
ant communions, be relaxed ? 

(a.) As to term of time ? 

(b.) Degree of conformity to the worship, discipline, 
&c, of the RE. Church? 

4. Are any facts known to you indicating a prefer- 
ence, on the part of ministers of other Protestant 
bodies, for Episcopal ordination, if it were in their 
power ? 

5. Are any facts known to you indicating on the 
part of the members of such bodies, a disposition to 
make any sacrifices of sectarian feeling for the sake 
of restoring unity ? 

6. Are our Liturgical services, and the discretion 
accorded to our several Dioceses, as free as they were 
in the early church ? 



40 The Memorial Papers. 

7. Ought the Church to make better provision for 
training teachers, nurses, &c. ? 

8. Ought it to afford its female members who have 
leisure and inclination for benevolent labours, any 
more systematic means of pursuing them, than exist 
at present ? 

Add any other matter which may occur to you. 
Where your engagements do not allow of a full con- 
sideration of all these questions, please select and 
answer such as seem to you most important. 

As these inquiries can only be directed to a limited 
number of persons, it is desired that any others into 
whose hands they may fall, would freely offer any 
information which they may deem important to the 
Commission. 



%tpti 



REPORT. 



The Commission of Bishops appointed by this House, 
at the meeting of the General Convention, in October, 
1853, to take into consideration the memorial of the 
Rev. Wm. A. Muhlenberg, D. D., and sundry other 
Presbyters, a copy of which is hereunto appended, 
and the resolution of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, 
offered in the House of Bishops, on the 6th day of 
October, 1853, and referred on the 25th of the same 
month, a copy of which is also hereunto appended ; 
having carefully considered the said memorial and 
resolution, beg leave to submit the following report. 

The subjects referred to the Commission, present 
matters of the gravest and most interesting character,, 
requiring patient examination and the most calm and 
dispassionate deliberation. So fully impressed were 
the members of the Commission with the importance 
and difficulty of th.e duty assigned to them, that on 
first assembling on the 29th day of June, 1854, in St. 
Peter's Church, New York, it was unanimously 
resolved that our meetings should be opened with 

(43) 



44 The Memorial Papers. 

prayer, and the Divine wisdom and blessing invoked 
to guide us in our work. Every member was present 
at this meeting, and we trust we had an earnest of the 
Divine favour, in the hearty zeal with which all then 
entered upon the labour which had been laid upon us. 
We all never met together again. It pleased God, in 
his wise and inscrutable providence, to call from his 
earthly labours one of our members, the Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Wainwright, not very long after the adjourn- 
ment of our first meeting, and the Commissioners were 
thus deprived of his very valuable counsel and zealous 
aid in their subsequent deliberations. 

The Commission appointed the Rev. Professor John- 
son, of the General Theological Seminary, their Sec- 
retary. Having been compelled, in the spring of 1855, 
to resign, he was replaced by Rev. Daniel Kendig, of 
Pennsylvania. 

Sensible of the delicacy of their work, as well as 
of the intrinsic difficulties connected with the prose- 
cution of it to any successful result, the Commission- 
ers determined, in the first place, to avail themselves, 
as far as opportunity permitted, of the counsel and 
advice of wise and good men in our own and other 
lands. Information and suggestions were sought, not 
only from the members of our own communion, but 
likewise from those of reputation for piety and learn- 
ing among other denominations of Christiana, 

With a view to these purposes, a series of questions 
was prepared, and, through the Bishops of our Church 
and other agencies, these questions, together with 



Report. 45 

printed copies of the Memorial, were widely distributed 
at home and abroad, and answers to them solicited. 
In this way, it was believed that we should ascertain 
the views of the Church at large upon the subjects 
submitted to consideration, gain valuable suggestions 
from the wise, learned and sober-minded of our own 
and other households of faith, be certified as to the 
real animus of the Church in reference to any pro- 
posed alterations, or contemplated modification, in our 
order of worship and discipline ; and thus be prepared 
to submit to the General Convention such information 
as would enable it to act wisely and understandingly 
upon the whole subject. It was also hoped that plans 
might be suggested that would tend to mollify the 
asperities of religious differences, and heal some of the 
unhappy divisions which have long marred the fair 
form of Christianity in our world. 

The reasonable expectations of the Commission, in 
reference to the readiness of our brethren to meet the 
calls made upon them, have not been disappointed. 
Upon all the subjects embraced in the Memorial, and 
presented in a more definite and detailed shape, by the 
series of questions addressed to clergymen and lay- 
men, we have been favoured with numerous learned and 
well-digested communications, manifesting a profound 
interest in the work committed to us. At the same 
time, the various topics which have been mentioned, 
either by the memorialists or the Commission, have 
given rise to animated and earnest discussions in our 
religious journals, or have been made to assume a more 



46 The Memorial Papers. 

permanent character, in the form of pamphlets, claim- 
ing public attention. In this way, and by these 
means, ample opportunities have been given to all 
parties, — those who favour as well as those who oppose 
the movements of the memorialists, — to make them- 
selves heard, and, as far as such instrumentalities can 
avail, to guard the Church against hasty or indelibe- 
rate legislation. In all these communications, it is 
gratifying to find the expression of a warm attachment 
to our order of worship. 

Communications have also been received by mem- 
bers of the Commission from distinguished divines of 
other Protestant bodies. These have been marked, in 
some instances, by eminent ability, and in all cases 
by a generous interest in the subject under considera- 
tion, and a desire to see the Protestant Episcopal 
Church made, under God, an instrument of wider use- 
fulness in evangelizing the neglected population of our 
own country, and in healing the strifes and divisions 
that afflict and dishonour Christendom. 

It should not be passed here without notice and 
remark, that almost simultaneously, and certainly with- 
out any previous understanding or concert, a work 
similar to that committed to us, and having precisely 
the same aims and objects in view, was moved in our 
Mother Church of England. Can it be presumptuous 
to hope and trust that the same Lord, who is over all, 
and rich in the bestowal of his gifts of wisdom and 
grace on all who call upon Him faithfully, had put it 
into the hearts of his people on both sides of the 



Report. 47 

Atlantic at the same time, to devise and attempt a 
work having so high and holy purposes in view, as the 
edification and union of all Christian people, the en- 
largement of His Church, and the more rapid spread 
of His gospel over all the world? At the second 
meeting of the Commissioners, in 1854, their chair- 
man was directed to open a correspondence with the 
Lord Bishop of Llandaff, chairman of the committee 
appointed to take charge of this work, collect informa- 
tion, and make report to Convocation. This was 
accordingly done, and a fraternal answer returned by 
his Lordship, giving assurance of the lively interest 
felt on the subject in England, and, at the same time, 
transmitting to us valuable documents, setting forth in 
detail what had been proposed in committee, and the 
action had thereon in Convocation. . 

The facts briefly adverted to, and many others not 
necessary to mention, have deeply impressed the Com- 
mission with a sense of the importance attached to the 
work which they have in charge. The spontaneous- 
ness of the movement, and the miscellaneous charac- 
ter of those who have manifested a lively concern in 
its progress, cannot be easily overlooked. Men, as 
widely remote from each other in their respective 
spheres of labour, as they are variant in their religious 
preferences, have alike given evidence of a conviction 
that the Church needed an enlargement of her means 
of usefulness. Laymen as well as clergymen, as dif- 
ferent in their views of ecclesiastical polity as in their 
natural temperaments, have communicated their opin- 



48 The Memorial Papers. 

ions, and given expression to their hopes and fears, 
respecting our venerable forms of worship, around 
which so many hallowed and endearing associations 
cling. Dioceses, by their conventions, have taken the 
subject proposed for our consideration into serious 
deliberation, and have deemed an exposition of their 
views, with which they have, in several instances, 
favoured us, to be called for by the gravity of the 
interests involved in the issue. Such has been the 
course of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island, New 
Hampshire, Kentucky, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, 
Illinois, and perhaps others. 

These things, at least, attest that there is vitality 
in the Church. They show that her members are 
alive to the importance, not only of preserving her 
means of usefulness, but, if possible, of rendering 
those means more effective. This feeling originates 
in no pressure from without, — in no demands from a 
powerful body of non-conformists, — in no mandates 
from an imperious State authority, — but simply in the 
awakened zeal of our own people. It presents the 
spectacle of a Church, penetrated with an increasing 
sense of its responsibility to God and the world. And, 
since such a consciousness of Christian obligation 
springs from no human source, we may humbly hope 
that the Holy Ghost, who puts it into our hearts to 
inquire earnestly "Lord! what wilt thou have us to 
do ? " may guide us in our counsels, and enable us to 
mature measures which shall not be without good fruit, 



Report. 49 

long after those who have devised and proposed them 
shall be numbered with the dead. 

In considering the means and measures necessary 
for giving increased efficiency to the Church as the 
Divinely appointed instrument for reforming and sav- 
ing mankind, we must never forget, that no organiza- 
tion will be of avail, without an animating, internal 
principle, imparting health, vigour and activity to the 
entire system, controlling and directing all its move- 
ments ; while, on the other hand, an imperfect, or 
even a defective organization, invigorated by an active 
spiritual life, will exhibit energies and accomplish 
results in the moral transformation of human nature 
as marvellous as they are glorious. Still, as life is 
effectual to the accomplishment of useful ends, in pro- 
portion to the perfection of the organs through which 
it acts ; as structure and adaptation are conditions of 
the greatest efficiency, so it behooves us, as "co-work- 
ers with God," in the recovery of this world from the 
dominion of sin and the Devil, not only to use the 
appointed weapons of our warfare, but to use them in 
the way best adapted to insure success. Our weapons 
may not be carnal, still they will not be found "mighty 
to the pulling down of strongholds," unless they be 
adapted to the objects to be effected. Wisdom and 
skill, combined with use and experience, are necessary 
to the successful employment of the most perfect 
instruments. 

Our Liturgical services, be it remembered, were 
framed with a special view to the wants of a worship- 

5 



50 The Memorial Papers. 

ping people. They were provided with a direct refer- 
ence to organized parish Churches. They were 
intended to furnish two or more daily services to a 
population already won to the Church. But our 
actual mission is to many, in truth, to a large majority 
not yet conciliated to the Church, and, for the most 
part, strangers to her forms of worship. We have to 
seek those who have not been gathered into organized 
parishes, — -who do not recognise in us any claim to 
spiritual oversight over them. We have to labour in 
places where very much of our work is outside of that 
contemplated in the plans of our offices, and in the 
prevalent methods of our preaching. 

The Church was originally composed of converts 
gathered, by the labours of the Apostles, from the 
ranks of Judaism and Paganism. We have to deal 
with men who are generally not ignorant of our doc- 
trines, but who are hardly more conversant with the 
system of worship to which we wish to conciliate them, 
than were the Jews and Gentiles, in the days of the 
Apostles, with the religion of our Saviour. 

In seeking to modify or adapt our forms of worship 
to the actual wants and condition of a very large 
portion of our population, we do but act upon a prin- 
ciple distinctly recognised in our own and our Mother 
Church. In the preface to the Book of Common 
Prayer it is declared u that in every Church, whatever 
cannot be clearly determined to belong to doctrine 
may be referred to discipline ; and therefore by com- 
mon consent and authority may be altered, abridged, 



Report. 51 

enlarged, amended, or otherwise disposed of, as may 
seem most convenient for the edification of the people, 
according to the various exigencies of times and occa- 
sions." It is also affirmed in the same preface, that 
the Church of England having made various reviews 
and changes— her aim hath been ".to do that which 
according to her best understanding, might most tend 
to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church ; 
the procuring of reverence, and the exciting of piety 
and devotion in the worship of God ; and finally the 
cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of 
cavil or quarrel against her Liturgy." 

In no country in the world, perhaps, will there be 
found united under the same form of government, so 
great a variety of people and so much diversity in 
intellectual, moral, social, and religious character, as 
in this land. Immigration annually brings in its vast 
contribution to the elements of division in the religious 
sentiment and practice of our countrymen. There 
are found here men of all grades of intellectual 
development, from the most improved condition of 
mind, enlarged and elevated by the best advantages 
of education, to the grossest and most stupid igno- 
rance growing out of poverty and absolute neglect. 
There are seen all complexions of social character 
diversified by the physical and moral differences 
which exist among the people of the old world, and 
which fix a lasting, if not an indelible impression 
upon the habits of human thought and action. In 
the population of the same State, and not unfrequently 



52 The Memorial Papers. 

in the same town, will be found all these varieties in 
national origin, in social, intellectual and religious 
character, at which we have barely glanced, and which 
present most serious obstacles, as painful experience 
most clearly proves, to the exercise of any wholesome 
and abiding influence on the part of the Gospel Min- 
istry. Out of this anomalous condition of things 
arises the necessity of that diversity in our modes of 
operation which has not been, heretofore, sufficiently 
appreciated, and the need of that versatility of talents 
in the ministry, which in our case is more or less 
indispensable, and which is always found to be emi- 
nently useful. 

It is not the purpose of this report to supply a 
treatise on the gifts of the ministry, or to direct spe- 
cifically how they may be most usefully employed. 
This is not the time, nor does it fall within our pro- 
vince, to enter upon such a discussion. We can do no 
more, at present, than indicate, from an extended 
field of observation, and from the earnest representa- 
tions made from every part of the Church, what 
seems to be most needed in order to the more vigorous 
prosecution of the great work with which we, in com- 
mon with others, feel ourselves charged. That work 
looks almost exclusively to the inculcation of religious 
truth as the basis of a healthy moral sentiment secur- 
ing national and individual prosperity, and as the 
foundation of that faith in God which leads to holiness 
of life, and the hope of salvation. 

The sentiment of the Church is everywhere the 



Rep out. 53 

same, and emphatic in its expression as to the necessity 
of more force and directness in our preaching, and 
of more special adaptation to the varying circum- 
stances of the Congregations which we are called to 
address. The habits of our people, moulded in a 
considerable degree by the nature of our civil and 
social institutions, and the constitution of the human 
mind, which impels us in most cases to prefer fervour 
to coldness, and that which is simple to that which is 
abstruse, are considerations which plainly indicate 
that our methods of dealing with men should be more 
direct and more manifold. They explain the reasons 
for that partiality with which extempore preaching is 
regarded — the superior influence which ministers 
accustomed so to preach possess in gathering together 
large congregations ; and they account, in good part 
at least, for the numerical superiority of most denomi- 
nations of Christians over the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in almost all the states, towns, and cities in 
the Union. 

An examination into the relative increase of the 
various bodies of Christians in the United States 
within the last thirty years will exhibit some startling 
facts, which may well rouse us to serious considera- 
tions, and lead us to ask ourselves the questions, 
"what have we been doing? and what shall we do?" 
We have been in the habit of looking merely at the 
increase of our ministers and members within given 
periods as the proper exponent of our growth, with- 
out considering how that increase compares with the 

5 * 



54 The Memorial Papers. 

rate of increase in the population at large. Making 
our estimate in this way, and it is the only accurate 
method to ascertain the ratio of our growth or increase 
as a Church, it will be found that we are by no means 
keeping pace with the population of the country in 
the provision we make for their religious instruction 
— to say nothing of our duty to heathen and foreign 
lands — that we are consequently falling very far 
below the measure of our responsibility, and that our 
growth in the last half century, which has been dwelt 
upon with complacency, if not with a spirit of vain 
glory, furnishes matter of deep humiliation and shame, 
rather than of boasting. 

It is submitted to the serious and calm consideration 
of this House, whether with all the lights of past 
observation and experience before us, it be not wise 
to recommend to our ministers, as an important means 
of enhancing their usefulness and efficiency, the cul- 
tivation of a habit of extemporaneous address and 
of expository preaching, at least during one portion 
of the Lord's day. It is not designed to favour the 
idea of cultivating a habit of declamation or fervid 
exhortation at the expense of persevering and severe 
study. It is humbly conceived that previous and 
careful preparation is entirely consistent with the 
practice of extempore preaching, as here contem- 
plated. With brief notes or heads of discourse, sug- 
gestive of topics and the preservation of a lucid 
arrangement, the fruits of much laborious research 
and reflection may be made available with their 



Report. 55 

utmost effect. We see no reason why a minister 
should not, in this way, present to the consideration 
of his congregation, the high and concerning truths 
of the gospel, and enforce them by its awful sanctions 
as effectively, as persuasively, and as convincingly as 
a lawyer states and argues his case from his brief at 
the bar. The plan suggested would have this further 
advantage. It would enable the preacher to avail 
himself of all suitable opportunities for proclaiming 
"the truth as it is in Jesus," which the diversities of 
time, place, and circumstances might present. He 
need not always wait till a congregation can be 
gathered in some fixed place of worship furnished 
with the conveniences of lectern and pulpit, but after 
apostolic example, let him preach, if it be expedient, 
in an upper chamber, or in the market place, by the 
sea shore, or in the courts of the prison, by night or 
day, in storm and tempest, or in the sunshine of 
bright and cloudless skies. Everywhere in season 
and out of season he is to exercise his vocation, as 
need may require, and, like a beacon on the stormy 
ocean of life, point the voyager to the way of safety 
and the haven of rest. He need not be bound by 
any rules or restrictions which custom may have 
established as to the length of his discourses. This 
should vary with emergencies, and especially with the 
state of those who hear. His quick and discerning 
glance will easily detect any restlessness or listlessness 
on the part of his hearers, and furnish him the best 
chronometer to graduate his sermons. Thus too he 



56 The Memorial Papers. 

will be enabled to suit his subject to the character of 
his congregation; and bringing out of his treasures 
— the accumulated stores of reading and study — of 
observation and reflection — things both new and old ; 
he may use a written discourse, or speak from notes ; 
he may furnish food for the thoughtful mind, by 
unfolding some great doctrine of Christianity, or, by 
animating* exhortation^ rouse the desponding to 
renewed exertion for the prize of eternal life ; he 
may enforce the high and commanding morality of 
the Gospel, or he may attract, edify, and charm, by 
portraying the example of Christ, doing good to the 
souls and bodies of men, and may exhort them to its 
imitation. In a word, the vast range of the Gospel 
takes in all the interests of man as a rational and 
accountable creature, it comprehends all his relations 
to God and his fellow men, it embraces all his hopes 
for time and eternity, and from them all, the preacher 
may choose his theme, and from the boundless field 
of nature, in the rich exuberance of her productions 
— the endless variety of objects which garnish the 
heavens above, or beautify the earth beneath, or 
replenish the waters under the earth — he may draw 
from them all, illustrations to enforce and adorn his 
subject. 

These remarks point to the expediency, not to say 
necessity, of a corresponding variety, to some extent, 
in our Liturgical services. It is the general voice of 
our communion, that in adjusting the length of our 
public services, more regard should be had to the 



Report. 57 

physical ability of both minister and people ; and this 
is especially important in those parts of our country 
where the heats of summer are long-continued and 
debilitating, rendering mental exertion burdensome, 
and even perilous to health. More attention also 
seems to be demanded to the degree of Liturgical cul- 
ture among the people, and a more economical use of 
our clerical force. By the arrangements which the 
Commission would recommend, it is believed that, in 
most of our established congregations, three services 
may be had on Sunday, and several during the week, 
without overburdening the strength and ability of the 
minister. 

We read that, in the primitive Church, "gifts" 
were bestowed by our blessed Lord upon his members, 
" differing according to the measure of grace given 
unto them." These gifts were intended to supply 
everything that was needful for carrying on the work 
our Lord had appointed to his Church. However 
they manifested their influence by "diversities of ope- 
rations and differences of administrations" in the 
work of apostles, or prophets, or evangelists, or pas- 
tors, or teachers, they were all given " for the perfect- 
ing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
the edifying of the body of Christ." But, that such 
varieties of gifts were bestowed " for the edifying of 
the Church," seems, in a great measure, to be over- 
looked or forgotten. It would appear that all minis 
ters are now expected to be priests, whether they have 
"the gift of ministering" or not; all to be rectors of 



58 The Memorial Papers. 

parishes, whether they have the gift of ruling or not ; 
all to be teachers, whether they show aptitude for 
instruction or not; and, very many (" who name the 
name of Christ,") seem to have reached the conclusion 
that there is no such gift as that mentioned by the 
Apostle, when he enjoins it as a duty to give " with 
simplicity/' The consequences of this ignorance or 
forgetfulness have been exhibited in the history of the 
Church, even within the memory of some now living, 
with startling effect and melancholy frequency. 
Ministers are found who yet do not minister ; rectors 
who cannot govern ; pastors who do not feed the 
flock ; teachers send forth theological essays, for the 
instruction of the Church, who might find better em- 
ployment in studying the Bible and Catechism, while 
the necessary means for maintaining religious services 
too often have to be wrung from those who appear 
reluctant to recognise it as a Christian obligation to 
give of their ability, as God has prospered them, ^with 
liberality, with cheerfulness, and with simplicity. On 
every side the complaint is heard, that the work of 
the Church languishes, or is not done. That we have 
refused or neglected to use many gifts which Christ 
has bestowed on his Church, is apparent from our not 
providing employment for those members of the body 
which are fitted for special duties. We see, for 
example, persons who have a fondness or peculiar 
aptitude for searching out the poor and helpless. No 
cellars are too low and dark, no garrets too high and 
comfortless, to deter them in their efforts to find and 



Report. 59 

relieve the hunger-bitten children of poverty. Vice 
and filth do not offend them, but excite their compas- 
sion and their tears. Degradation and infamy do not 
repel them, but inspire their charity, and give fervency 
to their prayers. 

There are those, on the other hand, who have no 
inclination to engage in this humble and merciful 
work, or whose qualities of mind and body unfit them 
for such employments. They may not have the tact, 
wisdom, or other resources necessary to guide them in 
the selection of means adequate to insure success to 
such schemes of benevolence. Still they wish to do 
good, and the minister of a parish, if he be prudent 
and judicious, will find them employment. Some of 
them may be used in reading prayers and the Holy 
Scriptures to people, whose situation or opportunities 
do not allow them to attend the regular and stated 
services of the sanctuary. In the almost infinite 
variety of conditions in which our population is now 
found, there can be no lack of opportunity for the 
employment of every talent which the Church can 
command. 

Again, there are men whose temperaments incline 
them to be constantly moving from place to place. 
Connected with this constitutional peculiarity, there is 
generally a frankness and cordiality of manner which 
renders such persons favourites w T herever they go. 
They may not possess any great breadth or variety of 
learning ; nor any great powers of thought ; but, they 
have a faculty of correct and close observation, a 



60 The Memorial Papers. 

knowledge of men, as individuals and in masses, and 
perhaps extraordinary skill and tact in controlling 
them. 

Again, we see men who have that peculiar power or 
gift which is necessary for organizing and ruling bodies 
of men ; who seem by intuition to know just when 
this quality is to be stimulated, and that to be laid 
under restraint ; when this particular trait can be 
neutralized by the development of another ; when it 
is proper to rebuke one, and when to encourage 
another. They have a ready perception of the thought 
that will touch the common sense of mankind, and 
harmonize the mass. It is impossible to describe all 
the qualities which go to make up the character of 
such men : we perceive them when we say that such 
men were born to be rulers. 

In this class will be found those best calculated of 
all, perhaps, in the Church to fill the office of Evan- 
gelists. Men, whose chief, if not their sole employ- 
ment, it shall be to preach the Gospel in remote and 
morally destitute parts of the country, or in the 
neglected districts of our large cities, where the Pas- 
tors of established congregations never come, and the 
preachers at missionary stations but rarely. Men 
who shall be under the special direction of the Bishop 
of the Diocese, labouring where he shall appoint, dis- 
tributing books and tracts where opportunity shall 
serve, and reporting to the Bishop as often as he shall 
require. 

Such a corps of active labourers seems almost 



Report. 61 

indispensable to the complete organization of the 
Church according to the primitive model, and unques- 
tionably necessary to its extension in our land. It 
may be supposed, and the idea has been sometimes 
advanced, that the Bishops can and ought to do all 
the work contemplated by the creation of this class 
of preachers. With dioceses of the present extent 
it is, in most cases, simply impossible. Many of our 
Bishops spend much the greater portion of their time 
in travelling and preaching. Almost the only increase 
made to the Church in many parts of the country, is 
attributable to the labours of the Episcopate. But 
observation and experience have demonstrated that 
the utmost exertions of the Bishops cannot meet the 
growing demands of our population. 

And here we are constrained to call attention to 
the wasted energy and unemployed power of the 
women of the Church. The Sisters of Charity in 
the Romish communion are worth, perhaps, more to 
their cause than the combined wealth of their Hier- 
archy — the learning of their priesthood, and the self- 
sacrificing zeal of their missionaries. The providential 
government of the world leaves everywhere a large 
number of unmarried and unemployed females, and 
thus appears to point the Church to a wise appropria- 
tion of their peculiar talents or gifts, in the cause of 
Christ and of humanity. The associated charity and 
benevolence of Christian sisterhoods which we have 
in mind, is the very opposite of the hermitage and 
the nunnery. Instead of a criminal and cowardly 

6 



62 The Memorial Papers. 

withdrawal from the world, and the duties which the 
wants and distresses of humanity may claim, it is the 
voluntary consecration to Christ of all the powers of 
body and soul in the active performance of the most 
tender, the most endearing, and yet the most neglected 
offices of charity. Many have seen, and many lament 
our loss in this respect ; but individual zeal and effort 
can effect but little in the way of providing a remedy. 
The constituted authorities of the Church must take 
hold of the subject — deal with it without reserve — 
combine effort in the cause, and give direction to it 
without the fear of man. 

With such instrumentalities as are now in use, the 
Commission is constrained to report further, that in 
their judgment the debt of the ministry and members 
of the Church to the young is not sufficiently felt and 
adequately discharged. In families acknowledging 
the obligations of a Christian profession, there is too 
little positive and regular religious instruction, and 
too little of pious, paternal training, or discipline. By 
Pastors there is want of attention to catechizing — to 
the Sunday School — and to such preaching and ser- 
vices are best calculated to reach, impress, and influ- 
ence those who have arrived at the period of juvenes- 
cence. 

It is also very certain that the full effect of our 
ministrations cannot be obtained, and the reasonable 
expectations of the Church at large be met and ful- 
filled in this behalf, until our candidates for orders, 
and our ministers, be trained to more robust intellec- 



Report. 63 

tual habits, by a more thorough and severe mental 
discipline : and to this very necessary preparation 
must be added a clear apprehension of the moral wants 
of the times, and the precise intellectual wants of the 
people. Next to this, and hardly of less importance, 
there is need of more practical common sense, in 
dealing with men upon the subjects of religion, and 
recommending it to their attention. In this country 
almost every man and woman feels competent to dis- 
cuss questions of theology, and give instruction on 
the doctrines of the Gospel. These pretensions have 
to be met by the ministry, and to be met in a spirit 
of meekness and of deep compassion for the erring 
and deceived. Hence we have found, in very many 
of the communications made to us by clergymen and 
laymen, the opinion, or rather the conviction very 
earnestly expressed, that in preparing candidates for 
the work of the ministry, more attention should be 
paid to practical training for its duties — that there 
should be also more cultivation of the powers of 
thought, and taste for investigation — more rhetorical 
culture — more rigid and searching examinations, and 
better established habits of systematic study after 
ordination. 

But among the many wants of the Church in order 
to her energetic and effective influence — that fulness 
and completeness which we desire for her — few per- 
haps are more obvious, and none more generally 
deplored, than the want of an impressive and devo- 
tional manner of reading the Liturgy. This is a 



64 The Memorial Papers. 

great and crying evil, and to its existence is to be 
attributed, no doubt, much of the complaint which is 
urged against the length and formality of our services. 
The evil is the more inexcusable and intolerable, for 
the simple reason that it might be remedied, in a vast 
majority of cases, by due care and persevering efforts 
on the part of those whose bounden duty it is, and 
pleasure it ought to be, to qualify themselves for the 
becoming and decent performance of this, the most 
sacred part of their holy functions. He who leads 
the devotions of a congregation, in their approaches 
to the mercy-seat, with the offerings of praise and 
prayer to the Divine Majesty, can make no acceptable 
apology to his people, and no excuse to his own con- 
science, for carelessness and irreverence. An expe- 
rienced clergyman, in a communication to the Com- 
mission, complains of this evil as very prevalent, and 
proposes the following remedy : 

"Let all candidates be taught to read English. 
The only certain method of correcting vicious modes 
of reading is, to employ the services of some one 
who can give to the student an accurate rehearsal of 
his own performances. After many repetitions of 
this discipline, the young man will begin to detect the 
similar vice in his own tones, and then only will it be 
possible for him to correct it." 

In this connexion we cannot but allude to the 
important duty devolving on the members of our con- 
gregations, to take their part earnestly and effectively 
in our public services. Were this done in the re- 



Report. 65 

sponses, in the chants, in the metrical Psalmody — 
done in the way which the Church, in her wisdom, 
has prescribed, and with a hearty observance of her 
decent rules and usages — much of the complaint now 
made of the wearisome length of the services, would 
be hushed. What is not done as it should be, is 
usually wearisome. It is a duty imperative on the 
clergy, to see to it that any failure in this important 
matter shall not be justly chargeable to the want of 
proper instruction and urgency on their part. 

The Commission is of opinion that every minister 
having parochial charge, should be diligent in the use 
of means for interesting and retaining under whole- 
some religious influence boys and young men. 

1st. By giving them employment in the Church and 
the Sunday School. 

2d. By frequently meeting with them, and mani- 
festing interest in their welfare. 

3d. By directing their choice in reading, recom- 
mending proper books, &c. 

4th. By cultivating among them a love for Sacred 
music. 

It is deemed of vital importance that the ministry 
should, with every class, but particularly with the 
young, insist earnestly upon their responsibility as 
stewards of the grace of the Gospel, — employing them 
as helpers to the ministry, not only in the Sunday 
School and Bible Classes, but, when found apt and 
prudent, in district visiting, — in Lay-reading and cate- 
chizing in destitute places, on the principle that they 

6 • 



66 The Memorial Papers. 

are bound to labor, as well as to give of their sub- 
stance, for the promotion and increase of true religion ; 
that they cannot be faithful to God, unless they im- 
prove the talents committed to them ; and that they 
must begin this work when young, if they would be 
efficient in manhood, and happy when old. 

And here we are reminded of one of the most 
mournful of our deficiencies, and which ought to move 
us all to deep humiliation, and earnest prayer. We 
refer to the small number of our clergy, compared 
with our existing wants, and the inadequate provision 
made for their support. Few are found pressing 
towards that which ought to be regarded as the hap- 
piest, the most useful, and the most honourable of 
human pursuits; and of those who engage innt, few 
receive more than a meagre recompense for their 
services. Does not this indicate, on the part of young 
men, a sad want of zeal and devotion in the cause of 
Christ, and on their part also, who, as parents, pastors, 
and friends, ought to move the young to aspire to this 
holy office ? And, does it not show, on the part of 
Christians, whom God has made the stewards of his 
bounty, a deplorable insensibility to their duty and 
their privilege, when they suffer ministers and mis- 
sionaries to languish in want, while they pay without 
stint for the services of men of all other professions 
and occupations in life ? For this sore evil, it becomes 
us to seek earnestly a proper remedy. A more abund- 
ant measure of God's grace is doubtless the first and 
most important requisite, and for this the Church 



Report. 67 

should call upon her children to pray importunately 
and continually. But it cannot be denied that, were 
more careful and general consideration given to the 
subject, means would be devised to elicit much more 
ample gifts from the Laity, and to draw to the ranks of 
the Clergy many an earnest spirit now destined to 
other callings. Almsgiving and other acts of Christian 
beneficence require to be cultivated, as habits; and no 
pastor should be satisfied unless his methods of pro- 
ceeding are sufficiently varied and steady to enlist the 
interest, and engage the active and continued co-ope- 
ration of all his people. Most congregations need, 
on this subject, it is feared, more instruction than they 
receive, and this instruction needs to be followed by 
more active superintendence from the clergyman, and 
more extended sympathy and aid from individuals of 
the congregation. 

The Commission have also taken counsel with each 
other, and earnestly sought to devise some plan which 
might contribute to heal the divisions which so unhap- 
pily distract the Christian world. We cannot but 
rejoice in the interest which the members of our own 
household of faith have manifested, in common with 
all good men of other denominations of Christians 
upon this subject; and we doubt not that all will 
rejoice, if measures can be taken to restore the unity 
of the Church, and promote, by God's blessing, an 
increase of charity among all " who name the name 
of Christ." We must all, however, be well aware 
that the first step towards this happy and greatly 



68 The Memorial Papers. 

desired result, must be sought in unity of spirit, rather 
than unity of doctrine and discipline ; and, therefore, 
mutual allowances, and a large toleration are indis- 
pensable requisites, for which we should fervently and 
devoutly pray. The action which the Commission 
recommends upon this subject will be stated in the 
form of a resolution, and of a prayer, at the conclu- 
sion of this report. 

We cannot but earnestly and affectionately recom- 
mend to our brethren and friends everywhere, in view 
of the momentous interests involved in the final dispo- 
sition of this question, to strive to keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

1st. By doing justice to the merits of other systems 
as readily as they expose their demerits. 

2dly. By repressing a spirit of self-complacency and 
self-laudation. 

3dly. By infusing into our worship, preaching, and 
general policy, more of the ancient and historical ele- 
ment on one side, and of the popular and practical on 
the other. 

4thly. By a more cordial manner towards ministers 
of other religious bodies, who are inquiring into the 
claims of our communion. 

5thly. By considering whether we cannot safely 
lessen canonical impediments in the way of ministers, 
licentiates, and others desirous of our orders, with 
sufficient guarantees for soundness in doctrine, disci- 
pline, and worship. 

6thly. By fruitfulness in all good works. If our 



Report. 69 

ministers were more fervid, self-denying, and labori- 
ous ; our people more charitable, exemplary, and de- 
vout ; if, in a word, we were all that we ought to be, 
and might be, from the alleged superiority of our gifts 
and privileges, the attraction to the Church would be 
universal and irresistible. 

In conclusion, the Commission place before the 
House the positive results which they have reached. 
In a large proportion, indeed, it may be said that 
(with a few exceptions), in all .of the communications 
made to us by members of our Church, the opinion 
has been expressed that the Morning service might 
sometimes be shortened with advantage, and that 
greater variety ought to obtain in services which are 
beside the regular offices of Morning and Evening 
Prayer in established congregations. These are ends 
to which the efforts of many in the Anglican Church 
are now anxiously directed. Earnest expression has 
also been given to the wish, in many quarters, that 
the calendar of lessons should be revised, that addi- 
tional hymns, anthems, and canticles should be pro- 
vided, with other emendations, which would affect no 
doctrine of the Church, and might materially aid in 
the edification of her people. It has been the purpose 
of the Commission, however, so far as their present 
labours go, to leave the Prayer Book untouched : they 
have also doubted how far the consideration of such 
proposed alterations would fall within the duty assigned 
to them ; and, at all events, they felt that, if any 
alterations of the Prayer Book were proposed, the 



70 The Memorial Papers. 

House of Deputies would be entitled to take part in 
the preliminary discussions connected with them, and 
that much more time ought to be devoted to the work 
than they have been able to command. They have 
concluded, therefore, to commend this subject to the 
General Convention, to be disposed of as in its wisdom 
it may judge to be most expedient. They have many 
valuable papers, embodying the results of much labour 
and learning, and of a very extended experience, 
which will be at the service of a committee, should 
the Convention decide to appoint one. 

After much reflection, the Commission have come 
to the unanimous conclusion that some of the most 
material of the improvements which are loudly called 
for, and which commend themselves to our own judg- 
ment, might be attained without legislation. There is 
nothing in the Rubrics or Canons which requires that, 
when the Holy Communion is administered, it should 
be preceded, immediately or otherwise, by the office 
for daily Prayer. The practice rests merely on usage, 
and there are occasions when, for want of physical 
ability on the part of the minister, or from the very 
large number of persons communicating, or for other 
reasons, it would be right that the liberty, which the 
law does not withhold, of omitting the Daily Prayer 
should be exercised. To secure this, nothing more 
would be needed, it is thought, than a declarative 
resolution of this House. The same discretion seems 
allowable, in respect to the time of using the Litany, 
and the Ante-Communion Office. Canon XL VII. , 



Report. 71 

of 1832, already provides for special services, to be set 
forth by Bishops in their own Dioceses ; and the Com- 
mission have concluded that, by exercising the power 
thus given, provision could be made for those local 
necessities which result from peculiarities in the char- 
acter of the population, or in the circumstances under 
which the Church is to be extended. 

They, therefore, recommend unanimously that the 
following preamble and resolutions be adopted by the 
House of Bishops. 

Whereas, the order of worship, as prescribed by the 
Book of Common Prayer, or as settled by usage, has 
been framed with special reference to established 
parish churches, and to a population already incorpo- 
rated with the Church : 

And whereas, our actual work is, or should be, among 
many not yet connected with our congregations, or 
where there are no established parishes, or where said 
parishes are yet in their infancy : 

And whereas, there are, or may be, in different dio- 
ceses, peculiar emergencies arising out of the charac- 
ter or condition of certain portions of the population, 
which demand some special services : 

And whereas, it is desirable that the use of the 
Book of Common Prayer, as the vehicle of the 
Church's devotions, should be such as to cultivate an 
enlightened love for the Liturgy, and enable the 
clergy and people to make their labours for Christ 
most effective : therefore, Resolved, as the sense of the 
House of Bishops, 



72 The Memorial Papers. 

I. That ministers may, at their discretion, use 
separately the office for Morning Prayer ; and that, 
where a third service is to be held, the Litany, or the 
Ante-Communion office, or both, may be used in the 
afternoon: the order for Evening Prayer being 
reserved for said third service. 

II. That the order for the Holy Communion, in its 
entireness, may, with a sermon, be used separately ; 
provided, nevertheless, that, on the greater Festivals, 
it should, in their judgment, be preceded by the office 
of Morning or Evening Prayer. 

III. That, on occasions or services other than regu- 
lar Morning and Evening Prayer, in established con- 
gregations, ministers may, at their discretion, use 
such parts of the Book of Common Prayer, and such 
Lessons, as shall, in their judgment, tend most to 
edification. 

IV. That the Bishops of the several Dioceses may 
provide such special services as, in their judgment, 
shall be required by the peculiar spiritual necessities 
of any class or portion of the population within said 
Dioceses. 

V. That, to indicate the desire of this Church to 
promote union amongst Christians, and as an organ of 
communication with different Christian bodies or indi- 
viduals, who may desire information or conference on 
the subject, it is expedient that five Bishops be 
appointed by ballot, at each General Convention, as 
Commissioners for the foregoing purpose, to be entitled 
the Commission on Church Unity. They also recom- 



Report. 73 

mend that Canon XLV. (1832) be so amended that 
the concluding sentence may read as follows: "And, 
in performing said service, no other Prayers, Lessons, 
Anthems, or Hymns shall be used than those pre- 
scribed by the said book, unless with the consent of the 
ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese.'' 

The effect of this amendment would be to enable 
particular dioceses under the direction of the ecclesi- 
astical authority of the same, during such seasons as 
Passion Week, Christmas, and the like, to substitute 
Lessons, Anthems, or Canticles more appropriate to 
the occasion, and also to bring the provisions of this 
Canon into harmony with those of Canon XL VII. 
(1832). 

The House of Clerical and Lay Deputies having 
requested [see Journal, p. 73] this House in 1853 to 
consider the propriety of setting forth a form of 
prayer for the increase of the Holy Ministry, accord- 
ing to the command of Christ, " Pray ye the Lord of 
the harvest that He would send forth labourers into 
his harvest," and a resolution to the same effect of 
the Bishop of Pennsylvania in this House having been 
referred to the Commission, and several propositions 
having been made for the adoption of other occasional 
Prayers and Thanksgivings, the Commission have 
thought that it might be proper to offer for considera- 
tion the following forms : — 

1. A Prayer for Unity. 

2. A Prayer for the Increase of the Ministry. 

3. A Prayer for Missions and Missionaries. 

7 



74 The Memorial Papers. 

4. A Prayer for the Young, to be used on occasions 
of Catechising and the like. 

5. A Prayer for a Person about to be exposed to 
special danger. 

6. A Prayer in time of public calamities, dangers, 
or difficulties. 

7. A Thanksgiving for deliverance of a person 
from any peril. 

8. A Prayer for deliverance from public calamities 
and dangers. 

9. A Thanksgiving for the recovery of a sick child. 

A PRAYER FOR UNITY. 

God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our 
only Saviour, the Prince of Peace, give us grace 
seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in 
by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and 
prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from 
godly union and concord : that, as there is but one 
body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one 
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of 
us all ; so we may henceforth be all of one heart 
and one soul, united in the holy bond of truth, of 
faith and charity, and may with one mind and one 
mouth glorify thee : through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

A PRAYER FOR THE INCREASE OF THE MINISTRY. 

Almighty God, who hast in thy holy church com- 
mitted to the hands of men the ministry of reconcilia- 
tion, to gather together a great flock in all parts of 



Report. 75 

the world, to the eternal praise of thy holy name ; 
we humbly beseech thee that thou wilt put it into the 
hearts of many faithful men to seek this sacred min- 
istry, appointed for the salvation of mankind ; that 
so thy church may rejoice in a due supply of true 
and faithful pastors, and the bounds of thy blessed 
kingdom may be enlarged: through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

A PRAYER FOR MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES. 

Lord, who didst come to seek and to save the 
lost, and to whom all power is given in heaven 
and in earth, hear, we beseech thee, the- prayers 
of thy church for those who, at thy command, go 
forth to preach the gospel to every creature. Pre- 
serve them from all dangers to which they may be 
exposed; from perils by land and perils by water; 
from the deadly pestilence ; from the violence of the 
persecutor ; from doubt and impatience ; from dis- 
couragement and discord ; and from all the devices 
of the powers of darkness. And while they plant 
and water, send thou, Lord, the increase ; gather 
in the multitude of the heathen ; convert, in Christ- 
ian lands, such as neglect so great salvation ; so that 
thy name may be glorified, and thy kingdom come, 
gracious Saviour of the world, to whom, with the 
Father, and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, 
world without end. Amen. 

A PRAYER FOR THE YOUNG AT CATECHLSINGS OR IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 

Almighty Father, who hast promised that they who 



76 The Memorial Papers. 

seek early thy heavenly wisdom, shall early find it, 
and find it more precious than all the treasures of 
this world, send down on these thy children the grace 
and blessing of thy Holy Spirit; that they, being 
trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, 
may choose and love thy way, and depart from it no 
more for ever ; and that, when thou makest up thy 
jewels in thy glorious kingdom, these children may 
be there, and may be thine ; all of which we ask for 
the sake of thy holy child Jesus, our only Saviour 
and Redeemer. Amen. 

A PRAYER FOR A PERSON EXPOSED TO ANY SPECIAL PERIL. 

Almighty God, the Saviour of all men, we humbly 
commend to thy tender care and sure protection in 
his danger, thy servant for whom our prayers are 
desired. Let thy fatherly hand, we beseech thee, be 
over him; let thy holy angels have charge of him; 
with thy loving-kindness defend him, as w T ith a shield : 
and either bring him out of his peril in safety, with 
a heart to show forth thy praises for ever, or else 
sustain him with that glorious hope by which alone 
thy servants can have victory in suffering and in 
death, through the sole merits of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

A PRAYER IN TIME OF PUBLIC CALAMITIES, DANGERS, OR 
DIFFICULTIES. 

most mighty God ! . . King of kings, and Lord 
of lords, without whose care the watchman waketh 
but in vain, we implore, in this our time of need, thy 



Report. 77 

succour and blessing in behalf of our rulers and 
magistrates, and of all the people of this land (or, 
of this commonwealth, or, of this community). Re- 
member not our many and great transgressions ; turn 
from us the judgments which we feel (or, fear) ; and 
give us w T isdom to discern, and courage to attempt, 
and faithfulness to do, and patience to endure, what- 
soever shall be well-pleasing in thy sight ; that so 
thy chastenings may yield the peaceable fruits of 
righteousness, and that at the last we may rejoice in 
thy salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

A THANKSGIVING FOR A PERSON DELIVERED FROM ANY PERIL. 

God, most mighty and most gracious, by whom 
the hairs of our heads are all numbered, we give thee 
hearty thanks that thou hast delivered from his great 
peril thy servant, who now desireth that the thanks- 
giving of many on his behalf may redound to thy 
glory. Write on his mind the perpetual remembrance 
of thy preserving mercy ; save him from the hardness 
of an ungrateful heart, and grant that all his future 
days, and all that thou hast graciously continued to 
him ^ may be consecrated to thee and to thy blessed 
service, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

A THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM PUBLIC CALAMITIES. 

eternal God, the shield of our help, beneath 
whose sovereign defence thy people dwell in safety, 

we bless and praise, we laud and magnify thy glorious 

7 * 



78 The Memorial Papers. 

name for all thy goodness to the people of this land 
(or, of this commonwealth, or, of this community), 
and especially for our merciful deliverance from those 
calamities which of late we suffered (or, dreaded). 
Inspire our souls with grateful love ; lift up our voices 
in songs of thankfulness ; and so pour out upon us 
thy Holy Spirit, that we may be humble and watchful 
in our prosperity, patient and steadfast in our afflic- 
tions, and always enjoy the blessed confidence of that 
people whose God is the Lord; all which we ask 
through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer, to 
whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all 
honour and glory, praise and dominion, now and for 
ever. Amen. 

A THANKSGIVING FOR THE RECOVERY OF A SICK CHILD. 

Almighty Father, who, at the prayers of thy ser- 
vants, Elijah and Elisha, didst gladden the hearts of 
two pious mothers by restoring them their dead, and 
who, by thy Son Jesus Christ, didst raise to health 
and life the children of many sorrowing parents, 
accept, we beseech thee, the thanks of thy servants 
who call upon us to join our praises with their own 
for the deliverance of their dear child from sickness 
and the grave. May that recovered child be ever 
thine ; and may the hearts of all to whom he is pre- 
cious, so burn at the remembrance of thy goodness, 
that they may hold no thank-offering too costly to 
show forth thy praise, and may present themselves, a 



Report. 79 

living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto thee, through 
the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. 

The Commission in making this report have endea- 
voured to call attention to the subjects which are 
believed to have been in the contemplation of the 
memorialists, and to be of chief interest to the mem- 
bers of the Church. They have by no means attempted 
to embrace all the matters which have been suggested 
or proposed as amendments to our order of worship 
and system of discipline and religious instruction and 
training. As far as consistent with a proper under- 
standing of the views of the Commission, brevity has 
been consulted in their report. With a view to gain 
whatever advantage might be derived from a division 
of labour, and from concentrating the thoughts of 
individuals on particular subjects, the chairman, last 
spring, assigned to each member of the Commission 
special topics for consideration, and requested his 
views upon them. The communications made in con- 
sequence will be found in an Appendix, and it is 
hoped that they may be advantageously considered 
by the members of our communion. 

The Commission cannot close this report without 
recording their sense of indebtedness to those who 
have favoured them with communications respecting 
the interesting work in which they have been engaged : 
and they now commit the result of their labours to 
the disposal of this House, with the prayer to the 



80 The Memorial Papers. 

God of all wisdom and grace, to overrule its delibera- 
tions to the promotion of His own glory and the good 
of His Church. 

Ja. H. Otey, Chairman. 
G. W. Doane, 
Alonzo Potter, 
George Burgess, 
Jno. Williams. 



toteitaiim 



BISHOP DOANE'S CONTRIBUTION. 



The Bishop of New Jersey's Contribution to the Report on 
the Questions assigned to him by the Chairman, the 
Bishop of Tennessee. 

I. 1. Can the present method of preparing young 
men for the Ministry in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church be improved, in respect to learning, piety, 
intellectual power, or practical efficiency ? If yea, 
please state how. Mention any remarkable facts 
respecting the training of ministers whom you have 
known to be specially useful and efficient. 

I. 6. Is our present system of family, Sunday 
School, and catechetical instruction and training 
chargeable ivith any serious defects ? If yea, please 
state them ; suggest your opinions respecting the 
proper remedy. 

I. 8. What can be done for the religious instruction 
of boys ivhen they leave the Sunday School? 

II. 8. Ought the Church to make better provision 
for training teachers, nurses, $c. ? 

(83) 



84 The Memorial Papers. 

The points, presented in these questions, arranged, 
in their natural order, seem to be the following — 
i. Family Training : 
ii. Pastoral Instruction : 

1. In the Church ; 

2. In the Sunday School ; 

3. In the Parish School. 

iii. The further religious instruction of boys, after 
the school age. 

iv. Preparation for the Ministry ; as to learning, 
piety, intellectual power, and practical efficiency. 

v. Provision for training helps to the Ministry : 

1. Teachers ; 

2. Nurses. 

A wide and noble field ! The widest and the 
noblest ! How far beyond all mortal comprehension ! 
How high above all human skill ! Happily, w r e are 
not so left. The field is humanity : lost humanity ; 
humanity redeemed ; humanity to be renewed, that 
it may be saved. What is it, but u the height of that 
great argument," which brought the Son of God, into 
the world? What is it, but the Message of the 
Gospel ? What is it, but the Mission of the Church ? 
The just disposition of these subjects seems to me to 
underlie the whole Memorial; and, in their actual 
working, to meet all its reasonable demands. In 
their treatment, we are referred to Holy Scripture, 
for our principles : and, for their execution, to the 
action of the Church ; as it has been, as it is, and as 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 85 

it is capable of being, within the limits of its Divine 
organization, and the provisions for their practical 
application. Five words meet all the case : the 
Gospel, in the Church. 

i. Of God's will, on the subject of Family Train- 
ing, His holy Word leaves us in no doubt. When He 
declared, that Abraham should " surely become a 
great and mighty nation, and," that "all the nations 
of the earth" should "be blessed, in him," He says, 
expressly, as His ground of confidence, "For, I know 
him, that he will command his children and his house- 
hold, after him ; and they shall keep the way of the 
Lord, to do justice and judgment : that the Lord may 
bring, upon Abraham, that which he hath spoken of 
him."* The word of God, by Moses, is express and 
peremptory. " Hear, Israel ; the Lord our God is 
one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God, 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy might. And these words, which I command thee, 
this day, shall be in thine heart ; and thou shalt teach 
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of 
them, when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou 
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and 
when thou risest up."f The Royal Psalmist had no 
other hope, for truth and duty, in his time. " Hear 
my law, O'my people; incline your ears unto the 
words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a 
parable ; I will declare hard sentences of old : which 

* Genesis xviii. 18, 19. f Deuteronomy vi. 4-7. 

8 



86 The Memorial Papers. 

we have heard, and known, and, such, as our fathers 
have told us : that we should not hide them, from the 
children of the generations, to come ; but, to show the 
honour of the Lord, His mighty and wonderful works, 
that He hath done. He made a covenant with Jacob, 
and gave Israel a law, which He commanded our 
forefathers to teach their children ; that their pos- 
terity might know it, and the children which were 
yet unborn ; to the intent, that, when they came up, 
they might show their children the same."* And, 
the Apostle to the Ephesians sums all up, in fewest 
words, when he enjoins, on Christian parents, as their 
highest duty, to their children, to " bring them up, in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord."f 

Yfhat God thus clearly wills, the Church as faith- 
fully adopts. Requiring, that all infants be baptized ; 
urging that their baptism be not deferred " longer 
than the first or second Sunday, next after their birth, 
or other Holy Day, falling between, unless upon a great 
and reasonable cause;" and, warning them, "that, 
without like great cause and necessity, they procure 
not their children to be baptized at home, in their 
houses," she exhorts the Godfathers and Godmothers, 
and with, and through, them, the parents, in each case, 
to see " that this infant be taught, so soon as he shall 
be able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and 
profession, he hath" "made by" them. "And, that 
he may know these things the better," they are to 

* Ps. lxxviii. 1-7, Prayer Book version. f Eph. vi. 4. 



Bishop Doane's Contiubution. 87 

"call upon him to hear sermons, and, chiefly," they 
are to " provide that he may learn the Creed, the 
Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and all 
other things which a Christian ought to know and 
believe to his soul's health; and that this child may 
be virtuously brought up, to lead a godly and a 
Christian life ; remembering, alw T ays, that Baptism 
doth represent unto us our profession, which is, to 
follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be 
made like unto Him, that, as He died and rose again 
for us, so should we, who are baptized, die from sin, 
and rise again unto righteousness, continually morti- 
fying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily 
proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living." In 
the rubric of the Catechism, she requires that " all 
Fathers, Mothers, Masters, and Mistresses shall cause 
their Children, Servants, and Apprentices, w T ho have 
not learned their Catechism, to come to the Church, 
at the time appointed, and obediently to hear, and be 
ordered by the Minister, until such time as they have 
learned all that is here appointed for them to learn." 
And she accumulates the obligation of this duty, to 
the very highest point, in prescribing, that the Cate- 
chism shall " be learned, by every person, before he 
be brought to be confirmed by the Bishop;" and that 
" there shall be none admitted to the Holy Commu- 
nion until such time as he be confirmed, or be ready 
and desirous to be confirmed." 

Can a system of Family Training more effectual be 
imagined? More complete in itself ? More positive 



88 The Memorial Papers. 

in its obligations ? What can it need, but to be 
faithfully enforced ? The Church Catechism is the 
most wonderful Manual, for the religious nurture of 
children, that ever has been produced. It is perfectly 
scriptural. It is simple, to the level of the lowest. 
It has ranges, which the highest cannot reach. 
Every word of it is instructive. It may be divided 
into a hundred lessons : and every one of them will 
be suggestive of a hundred others. Only, let parents 
take it in hand. Let them study it. Let them com- 
pare it, word by word, with Holy Scripture. Let 
them pray over it. Let them teach it to their child- 
ren, " Line upon line, line upon line ; precept upon 
precept, precept upon precept ; here a little and there 
a little." It will grow upon their hands. It will 
engage their own hearts ; and, through them, the 
hearts of their children. No childhood will exhaust 
its lessons. And, generation after generation, as they 
grow up, at their knees, will but develop it more fully, 
in the elder minds and hearts ; and impress it more 
deeply on the youngest, that come after them. 

" Dim, or unheard, the words may fall : 
And, yet, the heaven-taught mind 
May learn the sacred air; and all 
The harmony unwind." * * * 

l! And, if some tones be false or low, 
What are all prayers beneath, 
But cries of babes, that cannot know 
Half the deep thoughts, they breathe V 9 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 89 

But, parents must be willing to take time. If they 
can count it such, they must be willing to take trouble. 
They must think what a soul is. They must think 
what a fallen soul is. They must think what it cost 
to save a soul. They must think what it is to mould 
a soul. They must think what it is to be crowned 
with souls, in Heaven. They must interest the hearts 
of their children, in the Catechism, by their own inter- 
est, in it. They must talk to them of it, every day. 
They must illustrate it, by the incidents and anecdotes 
of common life. They must show how it applies to 
daily duties, and to daily difficulties. And, they must 
make a lesson in it the delightful duty, and the dutiful 
delight, of the most holy day. If any think this is 
too much, what business have they to have children ? 
If anv will not do so much, whose fault is it but 
theirs that they have naughty children ; who plague 
them, all their lives : and, after all, are lost ? 

And, where, meanwhile, are the Godfathers and 
Godmothers, which every baptism is required to have ? 
"Why should not their assistance be invoked ? Why 
should not their influence come in aid of the parental ? 
What a lesson, to a child, of the value of his soul, 
that it has five trustees, for its safe keeping ! What 
a guarantee of interest, here, and immortality, here- 
after, if every child could see, and feel, that they were 
all enlisted, for him ; in their teaching, in their con- 
duct, and in their prayers : " by word, and deed, and 
good example !" Shall we not use this system faith- 
fully, before we doubt its efficiency ? Shall we not 
8* 



90 The Memorial Papers. 

try it thoroughly, before we ask a better ? To speak 
of the time it will take, of the trouble it will give, of 
the interference it will be with business or society, is 
to confess the truth : that our hearts are not in it ; 
that we are not true to our children ; that we expect 
a system to do, what we will not. But, no system will. 
And so our wisdom and our happiness lie, with our 
duty, in using what we have, with faithfulness ; and 
asking God to bless us, and our children, in its use. 

ii. We pass from Family Training to Pastoral In- 
struction. The Lover of our souls, who died for them, 
loved them too well, to leave them, even to fathers 
and to mothers, to be saved. When He said, " Suffer 
the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them 
not; for of such is the Kingdom of God," He covered 
their whole case, from the moment of their birth. 
And, when He made the highest test of Simon Peter's 
love for Him, to feed His lambs, He committed all 
His children to His pastors ; and He made the highest 
trust of all His pastors, the nurture of His children. 

1. The Pastoral Instruction of children should be 
first, and chiefly, in the Church. They come there, 
first, in Holy Baptism, to be made God's children. 
Not, as a ceremony. Not, as an incident. But, as a 
necessity of their nature : that they may be " born 
again ;" and so made " members of Christ, children of 
God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." Upon 
no point, is it more important, that the Pastoral 
Instruction should be clear, and full, and faithful. 
That parents may not only understand " the great 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 91 

necessity of this sacrament, where it may he had," 
and " the great benefit" their children "reap thereby :" 
but, may know, and do, their duty, in carrying out a 
beginning, so auspicious, through all its states and 
stages, to its glorious and immortal issue. 

Nor is it long, before, the Pastoral Instruction, as 
to the necessity, the nature, the benefits, and the 
responsibilities of Holy Baptism, takes personal shape, 
in the training of the child himself. The Godfathers 
and Godmothers were solemnly enjoined, " to see that 
this infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to 
learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession he 
hath" "made:" and "that he may know these things 
the better," they are instructed to "call upon him to 
hear sermons ; and chiefly" to "provide that he may 
learn the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten 
Commandments." The sponsors are to see, that this 
is done. The parents are to bring their children, well 
prepared, to Church. The Pastor is to do it. " The 
minister of every parish shall diligently, upon Sun- 
days and Holy Days, or on some other convenient 
season, openly in the Church, instruct or examine so 
many children of his parish, sent unto him, as he 
shall think convenient, in some part of this Cate- 
chism." What a threefold cord is this, of sponsors, 
parents, pastor ! How hard to break, if it be twined, 
in duty and in love ; and blessed, with prayer ! What 
might not well be hoped, of children, so instructed, in 
the Church, and trained, at home ; from the earliest 
period, when they shall be able to learn, until, having 



92 The Memorial Papers. 

"come to a competent age," having learned "the 
Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command- 
ments," and being " sufficiently instructed in the 
other parts of the Church Catechism, set forth for 
this purpose," they "be brought to the Bishop, to be 
confirmed by him ?" Such is the beginning, such the 
progress, and such the end of Pastoral Instruction, 
as provided for Christ's children, in the Church. 
What duty of the pastor so plain, so hopeful, so 
delightful ! What might not be expected of children, 
so brought up " in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord!" But, it will take time! What can be done 
without it? But, it will involve labour! So does 
every duty of our life. But, it will interfere with 
preaching! What preaching can be so plain, so 
practical, so profitable ? No pastor, that has tried it, 
will doubt this. No people, where it is done carefully 
and faithfully, with love, will deny that it is so. In 
Churches, where there are two services on Sunday, 
this is the best appropriation of the second. Best, for 
the pastor. No man can do justice to two sermons, 
in one week. They will be two fractions, in the place 
of one integer. Best, for the children. They will 
feel, that they are in, and of, the Church ; and grow 
up, unto Him, whose members they were made, in 
Holy Baptism, in all righteousness and godliness of 
living. Best, for the people. They will thus be kept 
familiar with the elements of Christian doctrine ; and 
learn what they are to believe, and what they are to 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 93 

do, to their soul's health, in nature's holiest and hap- 
piest way, out of the mouths of little children. 

2. In a parish so conducted, there will need no other 
Sunday School. A Sunday School is but a jury-mast. 
It will be rigged only for an emergency. In their 
original use, Sunday Schools were well conceived. 
They met a present necessity. But they have grown 
into a habit of the Church ; much to the hindrance 
of its purity and unity. They have superseded 
Family Training. They have superseded Pastoral 
Instruction. They have superseded the Church, 
in her relations to the Saviour's little children. 
They have introduced a body of teachers, without re- 
sponsibility ; and, often, more zealous, than instructed 
or discreet. They have become an organization, out- 
side of the Church, and independent of it. They 
are like the Vigilance Committee in California ; in 
the place of law and order, of office and authority. 
This is where they are not closely and constantly 
under the direction of the pastor. Where they are, 
they do but add to his labours, and lay another 
burthen on his overloaded Sunday : not to speak of 
the difficulties, and disorders, and dissensions, and 
divisions, to which, they constantly tend, and which 
they often introduce. As a help to pioneer Missiona- 
ries, and to supply the want of pastors, in a crowded 
population, they may be used, to advantage, under due 
and specific regulation. But it is the militia of the 
Church. It cannot come in the place of the regular 
army. And, too often, it cripples its energies and 



94 The Memorial Papers. 

embarrasses its operations. These may seem bold 
suggestions. And yet nine-tenths of the clergy, and 
a larger proportion of the laity, feel their force and 
own their truth : and go on, under a mental protest, 
with a labour, which is hard to bear, and yields but 
little profit ; because it is the usage of the Church. 
If there is a Sunday School in the parish, the pastor 
must be in it, and of it, and through it, and over it. 
And it will cost him more time, more toil, more care, 
than the proper system of the Church : and with 
small satisfaction ; and no certainty, in its results. 
And this is without taking into account the drudgery 
that it is, to children : who must either be excused 
from one of the services, or groan under the bondage 
of a more than Puritan Sabbath ; and learn to dread 
the day of rest, as the day of their imprisonment, at 
hard labour. 

3. To meet the objection, that the teaching thus 
proposed is not sufficient for the case, the Pastoral 
Instruction should pursue the children to the Parish 
School. By this, I mean, that the children of the 
Church, on Sunday, are also the children of the 
Church, on week-days. And, that the training in 
secular knowledge is no more to be severed from the 
religious training, than their bodies parted from their 
souls. I am not tenacious of the name of Parish 
School. What I mean, is this : that all the children 
in the congregation, until sufficiently instructed, to be 
sent to higher institutions, should be taught together, 
in a school or schools, whose instructors should be com- 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 95 

petent Churchwomen or Churchmen; and over which 
the pastor should have and exercise continual super- 
vision. Six, against one, would be a fearful odds, in 
anything. How much more so, when the six days 
are, for the world, against the one, for God ! As if 
religious training were like children's Sunday-clothes ; 
which are hung up on Sunday night, and kept so 
until Sunday morning. It is a case, too obvious, for 
argument. Nor, is it necessary to meet the current 
objections, that it would be sectarian education ; that 
it would be costly ; that teachers cannot be had. 
But, why is that sectarian, on Monday, which is not, 
on Sunday ? And, what is cost, w T hen souls are to be 
saved ? And, when was the supply not equal to the 
demand ? We have not Church teachers, because we 
do not ask for them; we do not care about them ; we 
do not encourage them. And, as for cost, what do 
men care for the expense of music, or of dancing, 
for their children ? And, if the Church is one house- 
hold, and all its members, brethren, w r hat shall prevent 
the same provision for the week-day teaching, as the 
Sunday ? Where, do w T e read of any question about 
cost, among the first believers ? Is there another 
Gospel ? Is there a modern Church ? And, besides, 
lamps are expensive. And curbing is expensive. 
And public supplies of water are expensive. And a 
police is expensive. And all government is expen- 
sive. What then ? Shall we have none ? Could we 
live, without ? A division of the outlay would reduce 
the one, to the great advantage of the other. Only 



96 The Memorial Papers. 

look at the thing, as it is. Onlv own, that it is, what 
it is. The rest will come. "Labour not, for the 
meat which perisheth ; but, for that meat, which 
enclureth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man 
shall give unto you." 

It is not necessary, in this connexion, to go beyond 
the sphere of Parish relations, and of immediate Pas- 
toral duty. The necessity of carrying out the same 
principles, through all the ranges of intellectual, moral, 
and religious training, results, inevitably, from their 
adoption, here. The soul is one ; in time, and through 
eternity. And, there is, for it, throughout its immor- 
tality, "one body and one Spirit," "one Lord, one 
Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who 
is above all, and through you all, and in you all." 

iii. The further Instruction of Boys, after the School 
Age, — or, as the question stands, "when they leave the 
Sunday School," — is an important point. Nor should 
it be confined to boys ; though, in their case, lies the 
greater difficulty. Still, it is of the Pastoral care. 
And, if it be a duty, there must be a way to do it. It 
is too sadly true, that boys get, what they think their, 
freedom, quite too soon. Would it be so, if the Church 
plans were faithfully carried out, as sketched above ; 
and the Church provision, faithfully used ? According 
to that, they would either be Confirmed, or in training 
for Confirmation : since Confirmation is implied, in all 
who are baptized; and the Church expects it of them. 
And, more than that, Confirmation is admission to the 
Holy Eucharist ; and, for this, there should be close 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 97 

and careful preparation. A class, or classes, for reli- 
gious instruction, Scriptural and Liturgical ; the his- 
tory of the Church ; the Christian Faith, dogmatically, 
presented; Christian Morals, practically applied: some- 
thing like this would seem to be the best provision for 
the case. An hour, a week, would answer for it. It 
would run, through many years ; and the Pastor, in 
pointing out the proper books, in each relation, collate- 
ral and illustrative, as well as principal, would be lay- 
ing foundations for a life-long superstructure, which 
should survive the world. Young people might so be 
kept together, in a Christian bond. They would be knit 
more closely, to the Pastor. They would be incorpo- 
rated, with the Church. And, w T hat an opportunity to 
give the direction, which should secure, from both sexes, 
admirable teachers ; and, from one, true ministers of 
Jesus Christ ! Because everything cannot be done, or 
done at once, is no reason for not beginning to do 
something. The work will grow. The nucleus will 
gather. Interest in it will make it easy. And love and 
prayer will set the mass a-glow. The work will be too 
hard for pastors to endure, it will be said. And so it 
will ; and so much the better, if it is. It will compel 
attention to the true nature of the office of a deacon. 
It will revive the order. " It appertaineth to the office 
of a deacon, in the Church where he shall be appointed 
to serve, to assist the priest." 

iv. Preparation for the Ministry as to Learning, 
Piety, Intellectual Power, and Practical Efficiency, 
presents a world-wide theme. It might fill many vol- 



98 The Memorial Papers. 

umes. In this connexion, there can be no more than 
general suggestions. Candidates for the ministry 
must be taught and trained. Nothing is more certain. 
There is no vocation, for which it is so needful. None 
is so difficult. None is so important. How is it best 
done? Two plans have been pursued : instruction, in 
Theological Seminaries ; and instruction, under the care 
of a Parish Minister. Both have borne precious fruits. 
The one has the advantage of opportunities for more 
varied and systematic study. The other, in its more 
immediate connexion with the pastoral duties, is more 
practical; and, as it were, more domestic. I have 
always been the firm friend of the General Theological 
Seminary. I think that it should be sustained ; and 
that it deserves to be. It has some recommendations, 
which can be found nowhere else. At the same time, 
I entirely approve of the course pursued by the Bishop 
of Ohio, the Missionary Bishop of the North-West, 
the Bishops of Virginia, and the Bishops of Connecti- 
cut, in establishing Seminaries, in their own Dioceses; 
and I wish success to the Bishops of Vermont and 
Massachusetts, and to any other Bishops, in their 
attempt, to establish them, in theirs. I, long ago, 
adopted, as the motto of a plan, for training pastors, 
these words, from the Life of Bishop Burnet : " As, the 
qualification for the pastoral care was always upper- 
most in his thoughts, he instituted, at Salisbury, a 
little nursery of students in divinity, — being ten in 
number ; to each of which he allowed thirty pounds a 
year. Once, every day, he examined their progress in 



Bishop Doane's Contribution. 99 

learning, and gave them a lecture on some speculative 
or practical point in divinity, or some part of the 
pastoral function.'' As " the qualification for the 
pastoral care " will be " always uppermost " in every 
Bishop's " thoughts," so, I think, every Bishop should 
have "a little nursery of students in Divinity." I 
have done what I could, with the " little nursery," 
which God has permitted, to the "deep poverty " of 
Burlington College ; and I will turn out my seven, (all 
of them teaching, while they studied,) against any 
seven, who have been ordained from any other train- 
ing, within the same five years. We must multiply 
our schools of Theology. We must localize them. We 
must habituate them to common life ; its wants, 
responsibilities, and duties. 

v. Nothing can be more apparent than the duty of 
providing helps to the Ministry; as Teachers, and as 
Nurses. The ministry takes in humanity. It must 
be the trainers of its ignorance. It must be the help- 
ers of its infirmity. 

1. The system of the Church, carried out, trains 
up spontaneous teachers. A Christian will teach, as 
certainly as fire will warm. The point is, to have him 
taught to teach. The plan, which is the best for training 
pastors, will be the best for training teachers. It is like 
the bolting process, in a flouring mill ; there will be 
superfine, fine, and middling. Many, that may not be 
adapted to the ministry, may be well fitted to be 
teachers ; and some, who have not the mind, to teach, 
may have the heart, to nurse. 

LofC. 



100 The Memorial Papers. 

2. Where there is a Parish School, there should be 
a Parish Hospital. I use it, in the largest sense. It 
comes from hospes, which means a stranger. Johnson 
defines hospitality, as " the practice of entertaining 
strangers." St. Paul writes to Timothy, that a Bishop 
must be " given to hospitality; " and he would have 
all Christians " not forgetful to entertain strangers; 
since, thereby, some have entertained angels, una- 
wares ;" while, of all the words of our dear Lord, 
there can be none, which touch tbe heart more tenderly, 
than these: "I was a stranger, and ye took me in.' , 
I say, then, it should be the aim of every parish, to 
have a house for strangers ; for the sick, the poor, the 
lunatic, the aged, the infirm, the widow, the orphan, — 
God's outcast children, by whatever name, — and, there, 
will be the nursery, for nurses. No vows, but those of 
their baptism. No sisterhood, but that of mercy. No 
veil, but that of modesty. In villages and towns, but 
small, perhaps occasional ; in cities, numerous and 
large ; with troops of virgins and of widows, who will 
emulate the virtues, with the name, of Florence Night- 
ingale, and find a home, in heaven, with Dorcas. 



BISHOP POTTER'S CONTRIBUTION. 



I am requested to state my views on the three fol- 
lowing questions : — 

I. Ought the qualifications of Candidates for Orders 
to he prescribed exclusively by the Creneral Convention? 

I answer No, and for the following reasons : — 

1. In a country so extensive as ours, and embracing 
such diversities of population, there are local exigen- 
cies, for which local legislation alone can effectually 
provide. We need not merely highly educated parish 
ministers ; w r e need evangelists, and those of every 
variety of natural and acquired endowments ; but 
evangelists who would suit Louisiana might not suit 
Virginia, and those who would suit Virginia might not 
be adapted to Massachusetts. 

2. In all other professions in the United States, it 
is the State, not the Creneral Government, that pre- 
scribes the qualifications of those who are to be admit- 
ted to them. 

3. In the early Church, dioceses were almost entirely 
independent in their action in this particular. 

9* (101) 



102 The Memorial Papers. 

4. In the Anglican Church, ordination in one dio- 
cese does not entitle a clergyman to establish himself 
in an other, without special license from its Ecclesi- 
astical authority. 

5. In the Canon of 1853, Of Deacons, we have, as 
it seems to me, recognised the true principle ; devolv- 
ing on the Ecclesiastical authority of each Diocese the 
responsibility of ordaining Deacons, without full lite- 
rary qualifications, and relieving other Dioceses from 
the necessity of receiving such Deacons, unless they 
desire it. 

Why not extend this principal to Presbyters ? 

II. In admitting to our ministry those ivho have 
been licensed or ordained in other bodies {Reformed 
or Unreformed), ought the restrictions, now imposed 
by Canon, to be insisted on ? 

(a.) In respect to time, — Six months is now the 
minimum term of probation ; and, this being imposed 
by a Canon of the General Convention, the under- 
standing is that, at the expiration of that time, the 
candidate is entitled to ordination, if, with an unim- 
peached character, he can pass the requisite examina- 
tions. I object to this, 

1. Because the period of preparation cannot be 
defined for all. Some men, who have ministered in 
other bodies, would be better prepared after six days 
than others after six or twice six months. Men of 
mature age, of extensive learning, of tried and revered 
character, who have been widely and honourably known 
for years, who have long been studying the order, 



Bishop Potter's Contribution. 103 

worship, and discipline of our Chnrch, and who are 
ready to accept them ex anirno ; why should they be 
kept waiting, and proclaimed to the world as proba- 
tioners for an uncertain privilege ? On the other 
hand, men of doubtful character, or weak intellect, 
ought not to esteem themselves entitled to demand 
admission, because they have waited six months, can 
pass a slender examination, and procure certain testi- 
monials. The effect of the present system is to dis- 
courage and repel the very men who are most to be 
desired. A further effect is to lessen the feeling of 
responsibility on the part of the Bishops and Stand- 
ing Committees. If, after ordaining persons at their 
discretion, they were obliged to retain them until the 
authorities of other Dioceses applied to have them 
transferred, would there not be more care than there 
now is ? 

2. The provision is often a hardship. Subsistence 
in one field of labour must be surrendered ; and, for 
half a year, the Candidate, burdened perhaps with a 
family, must draw upon his private resources, or be 
dependent on charity, or betake himself to teaching, 
which, being a temporary expedient, affords but slim 
support to him, and doubtful advantage to his pupils. 
Let it be added, that, while teaching, he can do little 
to improve himself in knowledge, and may unjustly 
prejudice himself in reputation. 

3. This provision, with others related to it, is made, 
by our Canons, to work invidiously, as between the 
Reformed and Unreformed Churches. If the Candi- 



104 The Memorial Papers. 

date come from Rome, the Canon says nothing of his 
being examined on his knowledge of the principles of 
our Communion, or of his loyalty towards them. If 
he come from Geneva, or from any other type of Pro- 
testantism, " special regard," says Canon VII., of 1888, 
" shall be had to those points in which the denomina- 
tion whence he comes differs from this Church, with a 
view of testing his information and soundness in the 
same, and also to the ascertaining that he is adequately 
acquainted with the Liturgy and Offices of this 
Church." If he come from Rome, the certificate of 
two presbyters to his character is sufficient, and that 
in terms of the most general character, and no testi- 
monial in regard to his literary qualifications nor 
examination in the presence of two presbyters, 
respecting his theological attainments, is required. 
"Whereas, if he come from Geneva, or other Protest- 
ant school, the closest scrutiny, in these respects, is to 
be instituted ; and, besides two Presbyters, at least 
twelve persons of his own denomination, or of this 
Church, must certify to his moral and religious 
character. 

It is submitted that, if a discrimination of this kind 
be made, it should not be one that works against the 
children of the Reformation. 

(b.) Another question proposed is, — 

Whether, in all cases, we should exact of Candidates 
for our orders the pledge of entire conformity to our 
mode of worship, and system of discipline ? It is evi- 
dent that this pledge is qualified by the circumstances 



Bishop Potter's Contribution. 105 

in which the clergyman is placed. If he be in a 
heathen land, or dealing with a population that can- 
not read, it is clear that the Office for Morning and 
Evening Prayer cannot be said. So, if he deal with 
a people, into wiiose language our Offices have not 
been translated, or who may not be prepared to use 
them in their entireness. It is understood that the 
Norwegian congregations, in Wisconsin and other 
Western States, have not even yet, after more than 
ten years, been brought to the use of our Liturgy, 
though their ministers and people are recognised as of 
our Communion. How far might the same principle 
be applied to those speaking the English language, who 
might desire our Ministry and Sacraments, but who 
are not yet prepared to adopt, in whole, or even in 
part, our form of worship ? It will not be contended 
that our particular Liturgy is of the essence of the 
Church Catholic, nor that there could not be Episcopa- 
lians, who worshipped after another form, or without 
any prescript form at all. 

These questions open the whole subject of Church 
Comprehension and Church Unity, raised by the Me- 
morialists. That the divided and distracted state of 
Christendom is a reproach and curse will not be 
denied. It has had its origin in the pride and unrea- 
sonable pertinacity, not of separatists only, but gene- 
rally of those too, it must be admitted, from whom 
they separated. Had the Church of England adopted 
a more generous and tolerant course towards the non- 
conformists of earlier days, and towards the Wesley- 



108 The Memorial Papers. 

ans of the last century, it can hardly be doubted that 
she would have averted some of the sorest breaches 
which have been made in her walls. That alone, 
which might have prevented separation, can restore 
Unity. But it is much more difficult to heal a breach 
once made, than it is at first to prevent it. The 
remembrance of real or supposed wrongs ; the bitter- 
ness engendered by strife ; fear lest concession com- 
promise dignity, or involve the loss of power; the 
chronic effect of habit ; love of pre-eminence in some, 
and disposition to exact humiliating submission in 
others, all conspire to perpetuate divisions, especially 
when they have gone the length of separation into 
independent communions. To this we are to add 
honest differences of opinion, which are inevitable on 
such a subject as Christian doctrine, and which are 
inveterate in proportion as they enter into terms of 
Communion. No one can read the Acts of the Apos- 
tles without seeing that the proclivity to divisions was 
active even in their day ; and they had hardly with- 
drawn, with their Divine gifts, from the adminis- 
tration of the Gospel, before divisions began to ripen 
into heresies and schisms. The Catholic Unity, under 
which, after four centuries of active controversy, the 
Church settled down, was the result rather of coercion 
than of choice, and it was not generally distinguished 
by comprehensiveness, either of doctrine or of spirit. 
Nothing but a strong consciousness of power, without 
a corresponding sentiment of right, could have inau- 
gurated the policy which proscribed so many holy men 



Bishop Potter's Contribution. 107 

for slight aberrations of opinion, and arrogated to the 
decisions of fallible Councils all the attributes of 
Omniscience and Omnipotence. 

If we would see unity restored to the Christian 
world, we must labour for it under the inspiring influ- 
ence of Faith, Hope, and Charity. "We need more 
faith, that we may pray more fervently and constantly, 
that all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity 
may be joined together in the unity of the Spirit and 
the bond of peace, and also that we may be more will- 
ing to intrust to Christ the care of his own Church 
and Gospel, and confide less in our ability to protect 
and guide them. We need more Hope, that we may 
be less disposed to despair of the future, and be more 
cordial in our efforts after a true Christian Unity. We 
need more Charity, that we may see in those who are 
separated from us all that they have which is meritori- 
ous, — that we may be willing to learn of them, if in 
any respect they excel us, — that we may judge kindly 
and indulgently of their defects, and mourn rather 
than exult over their failures and miscarriages. 

Too stringent a demand for uniformity in doctrine 
and worship has doubtless been one grand source of 
divisions. This appetite seems to grow by what it 
feeds on. The Latin Church passes her Tridentine 
decrees, which exact from every earnest thinker a 
more abject submission than had ever been exacted 
before, just at the time when her desire for unity and 
her love for souls ought to have prompted a course 
precisely the reverse. This disposition to exalt mere 



108 The Memorial Papers. 

opinions into articles of faith is the bane alike of ultra 
Montanism and ultra Protestantism. God, in his 
mercy, has thus far saved the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in this country from the same excess of folly. 
We ask of those who come to Baptism but a hearty 
assent to the faith as exhibited in the Apostles' Creed, 
and that only on the ground that the few articles of 
that creed can be vindicated by most certain warrant 
of Holy Scripture. The theory of our Church recog- 
nises the cardinal fact that large diversities of opinion 
are compatible with loyalty to a common Saviour. It 
calls us to consider Christianity as a Life, not as a 
mere collection of dogmas. It asks how men live, — 
soberly or sensually, righteously or unrighteously, 
godly or godlessly, — rather than what in all particu- 
lars, speculative as well as practical, they may happen 
to think. She does not underrate the importance of 
the faith once delivered to the Saints, but she would 
secure it by moral rather than by intellectual means ; 
by proper culture and training in the duties of Life, 
and in the hopes and services of Religion rather than 
through theological controversies. 

Would that her practice might, in every respect, 
accord with her theory ! Catholic she is, with her 
open Bible, her two great creeds, her Apostolic Minis- 
try, her Sacraments the centres of Christian Commun- 
ion. Might she not be more Catholic in her practice ? 
In dealing with the vast varieties of culture and faith 
in our land, might she not wisely adopt a greater di- 
versity of methods ? To pass the debt which we owe 



Bishop Potter's Contribution. 109 

to the millions who are left without any gospel, do we 
not owe something to those who hold that Gospel, but 
walk not with us ? We have an Evangelic faith, which 
the Protestant respects. We have an ancient polity 
and worship, which entitles us as an historical Church to 
the sympathy of all who reverence age and authority. 
We claim to have " gifts" such as are possessed by no 
other reformed communion, except our Mother Church, 
in Britain. Do we not hold these gifts as stewards, 
and are we not bound to act on the principle that it is 
more blessed to give than to receive? If Catholic 
order and Catholic truth be ours in a greater degree 
than belongs to others, does it become us to sit down 
and wait till those without come and humbly ask us 
for a share, or is it not rather our duty to offer and 
even press them on their acceptance? So far as 
authority and jurisdiction are concerned, we are to 
claim them only over those who profess and call them- 
selves Episcopalians ; but, so far as preaching Christ 
and Him crucified is concerned, are we not debtors, 
both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the 
wise and to the unwise ? Should we give the sacraments 
only to those who will in advance pledge themselves 
to conform for ever to our form of worship ? Shall 
our orders never be extended except where we can 
carry all the other peculiarities of our communion ? 
Is not this to impart to the Episcopate the character 
of a denominational or sectarian rather than of a 
Catholic institution? 

Advances towards the restoration of Christian unity 
10 



110 The Memorial Papers. 

can be made more gracefully by no Church than by 
ours. With orders which none of the Reformed 
Churches question, and with a worship which the best 
informed of other bodies respect, though not prepared 
as yet perhaps to adopt ; with a moderation in doc- 
trine, and a position in history which inclines towards 
her the more thoughtful and Catholic of every other 
Christian body, the Protestant Episcopal Church can 
afford to be generous. It might be more just to wait 
till they, who have gone out from her, return and sue 
for re-admittance; but it would be more Christ-like, 
more in the genius of her mission as the Lord's repre- 
sentative among men, to go out to them, and offer the 
gifts wherewith she is intrusted.* The sectarian 
spirit may, in many quarters, be still so bitter and repel- 
ant, that any concession of ours would be hurled back 
with scorn. But it is not charitable to assume this ; 
and even were such the ruling spirit in these bodies, 
we may be assured that in each of them there are 
Catholic minds that yearn for unity. At all events, 
we may, as a Church, repose more confidently on the 
assurance of our Lord's approval when we have abated 
every possible hinderance to the return of Christian 
fraternity, and have left with them who will not accept 
our overtures of love the whole responsibility of the 
schisms that now dishonour our faith. 

To charm down the passions and enlarge the under- 
standings of men, so that all who honour Christ in 

*Dr. Howe. 



Bishop. Potter's Contribution. Ill 

their hearts shall come to see, eye to eye, it is not ours 
to achieve. But we can offer our prayers for it to Him, 
from whom come all holy desires, and all good coun- 
sels. We can see to it that, if the present distracted 
condition of Christendom continues, the fault is not 
ours. We can repress arrogance and uncharitableness, 
and cultivate the spirit which thinketh no evil, which 
endureth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
things. We can remove from our practice all that is 
unnecessarily a stumbling block in the way of honest 
minds, and we can welcome every opportunity which 
opens to us the society of good men of whatever name. 
We can lessen the impediments which now make 
transition from the ministry of other bodies to our 
own both difficult and humiliating. We can consider 
that, if ever Christians are to be brought into one fold, 
it will not be through a policy like that of Rome, which 
demands that all concessions shall be made by others, 
none by ourselves. Above all, we can, within our own 
fold and among those who kneel at the same altar, 
cultivate a more loving and charitable spirit, remem- 
bering that we must be more at peace among ourselves 
before we can act efficiently as the peace-makers of 
Christendom. We can recognise, in much that is now 
transpiring, an open door for our work, and one which 
we are bound to enter. Is it nothing that the English 
language and literature, so indissolubly associated with 
our Church, is travelling round the globe ? Is it 
nothing that historical studies have revived with an 
enthusiasm and earnestness rarely ever witnessed 



112 The Memorial Papers. 

before, and that these studies must lead far toward a 
vindication of our claims ? Is it nothing that almost 
every other Protestant Communion is now moving 
towards some system of prescript prayer? Is it no- 
thing that our polity so conservative ; our worship so 
chaste, and yet so fervent, — so fitted to exalt the rude 
and to cheer and edify the cultivated and wise ; our 
discipline so gentle, and yet so decided ; our system 
of Christian nurture so fitted to rear up a nation of 
Christian men and women : is it nothing, we say, that 
all this, — amidst the din of strife, and the confusion 
of change, — is getting every day to be better under- 
stood, and more thoroughly appreciated? And why? 
Is it not that the Episcopalians of this day may arise 
and quit themselves like men? Is it not that we 
should bear continually in mind that to whom much is 
given, of them will much be required? "He that 
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord ; for not he that 
commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord 
commendeth." 

A. Potter. 

Philadelphia, Oct. 1st, 1855. 



BISHOP BURGESS' CONTRIBUTION. 



The only liturgical services prescribed in the New 
Testament, are, the Lord's Prayer ; the form of bap- 
tism ; the words of institution at the Lord's Supper ; 
the forms of benediction; the use of the book of 
Psalms ; and the closing Amen. 

There are no historical proofs which extend our 
knowledge of Apostolic usage. In the beginning of 
the second century, apparent traces are seen of the 
practices of reading the Ten Commandments, and of 
singing the Gloria in Excelsis. Some observances in 
the celebration of the sacraments, which are the same 
in all the ancient liturgies, have probably a like anti- 
quity with these practices. The outline which was 
thus formed for the celebration of divine offices, was 
filled up with prayers which undoubtedly had a general 
resemblance, but which did not literally correspond 
in different churches, and have not been preserved. 
Every bishop exercised the right and duty of prepar- 
ing or regulating the devotions which were performed 
10 * (113) 



114 The Memorial Papers. 

by himself or the presbyters of his church and diocese ; 
and there is no proof that they were not in part 
extemporaneous. 

This right and duty were never abandoned. The 
forms which commended themselves by their excellence, 
or by the authority of those from whom they ema- 
nated or of the churches in which they were employed, 
came into use in neighbouring churches. It is pro- 
bable, but it rests upon no conclusive evidence, till 
four centuries w r ere past, that provincial synods may 
sometimes have witnessed consultations which resulted 
in the harmonious adoption of the same service 
throughout a limited region. But if the power was 
ever relinquished by individual bishops or dioceses, it 
was a spontaneous act ; and there was never any effort 
to produce an universal uniformity. 

Even when the authority of the Romish See was at 
its height, this was never attempted. Different coun- 
tries, and different churches in the same country, had 
their own rituals. Neither while endeavouring to 
draw the Oriental communions within its sphere, nor 
while controlling' the West, did the Papacy seek to 
establish a full consent in all forms and words of 
worship. 

Till the Reformation, several varieties of usage pre- 
vailed in the different cathedrals and dioceses of Eng- 
land. The Book of Common Prayer for the first 
time settled that uniformity which has been so striking, 
and in some respects so peculiar a feature of our com- 
munion. At first, the very opposition to Popery, and 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 115 

the dread of its restoration, made the union of the 
whole nation under one ritual a great necessity. 
Afterwards, the resistance which was offered to such 
union from another side, only strengthened, in the 
course of events, the stringency with which it was 
exacted. Ultimately, adherence to the exact and 
unchanging form of the Liturgy became a matter of 
hereditary and personal affection for that form, con- 
firmed by admiration and experience of its beauties 
and excellencies. Those who loved it not, had sepa- 
rated from the Church ; and those who loved it, loved, 
from long association, even its minutest peculiarities. 
Nevertheless, the Common Prayer has been several 
times varied. In its existing form among ourselves, 
it is the result of repeated adaptations and expansions : 
partly prompted by the simple duty of making it 
more complete ; partly constrained by the changes 
which time had brought, in language, in political 
relations, and in the customs of society ; and partly 
elicited by the petitions and objections of those who 
alleged causes, sufiicient or insufficient, for dissatis- 
faction. In the original preface of 1549, the rule of 
uniformity was established to the express exclusion 
of a more ancient variety : " Where heretofore there 
hath been great diversity in praying and singing 
within churches in this realm, some following Salis- 
bury use, some Hereford use, some the use of Ban- 
gor, some of York, and some of Lincoln : now from 
henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one 
use." It is also declared that the ceremonies which 



116 The Memorial Papers. 

remain are "retained for a discipline and order, 
which, upon just causes, may be altered and changed, 
and therefore are not to be esteemed equal with 
God's law:" and the broad sentence is added, "In 
these our doings we condemn no other nations, nor 
prescribe anything but to our own people only ; for 
we think it convenient, that every country should use 
such ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting 
forth of God's honour and glory, and to the reducing 
of the people to a most perfect and godly living, 
without errors or superstition.' ' The revision of 1552 
was stated, in the act by which its work was made 
binding, to have taken place " as well for the more 
plain and manifest explanation of the fashion and 
manner of the ministration of the common service, 
as for the more perfection of the said order." At 
the revision of 1559, when the Sunday Lessons were 
appointed, the design was declared to be that " chap- 
ters or parcels of less edification might be removed, 
and others more profitable might supply their rooms." 
The purpose of the revision of 1604 was proclaimed 
to be "that some small things might rather be 
explained than changed," "for that in a matter con- 
cerning the service of God we were nice, or rather 
jealous," says the royal authority, " that the public 
form thereof should be free not only from blame, but 
from suspicion." The preface adopted at the revision 
of 1662, commences with the statement that " it hath 
been the wisdom of the Church, ever since the first 
compiling of her public liturgy, to keep the mean 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 117 

between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in 
refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting, any 
variation from it." It declares that "the particular 
forms of divine worship, and the rites and ceremonies 
appointed to be used therein, are things in their own 
nature indifferent, and alterable, and so acknow- 
ledged;" and that " it is but reasonable that, upon 
weighty and important considerations, according to 
the various exigency of times and occasions, such 
changes and alterations should be made therein, as 
to those that are in place of authority should from 
time to time seem either necessary or expedient." 
Then, besides other improvements, " it was thought 
convenient that some prayers and thanksgivings, 
fitted to special occasions, should be added in their 
due places, particularly for those at sea, together with 
an office for the baptism of such as are of riper years ;" 
an office which, "by the growth of Anabaptism," it 
was said, "is now become necessary, and may be 
always useful for the baptizing of natives in our plan- 
tations, and others converted to the faith." The Com- 
mission for a revision in 1689, cited the language of 
this preface, as the foundation for the "great and 
good work," as our Church has termed it, which was 
then proposed, but which fell to the ground. In the 
very same words, the same principles are expressed 
in the preface to our American Prayer Book as the 
ground of that revision, and those alterations, which 
followed the establishment of our national independ- 



118 The Memorial Papers. 

ence, and the completion of the organization of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. 

So carefully have the authorities of the Church, 
with the full consent of its members, asserted from 
age to age the right, the fitness, and the consequent 
duty of making such modifications in the Liturgy 
itself, or in its use, as Providence might constrain, or 
as the judgment might approve, or as peace and 
charity might implore. The limits within which 
changes may be permitted are firmly fixed, so that 
all such alterations must be rejected " as are either 
of dangerous consequence, as secretly striking at 
some established doctrine or laudable practice of the 
Church of England, or indeed of the whole Catholic 
Church of Christ, or else of no consequence at all, 
but utterly frivolous and vain. ,, The constitution of 
our own Church has guarded the exercise of the 
power against all hasty action ; but no other guard 
has been thought necessary than the consent of two 
successive Conventions. Not even that restraint is 
laid on any alteration of liturgical practice which 
may require no variation or extension of the words 
of the Prayer Book. 

There would seem to be five contingencies in which 
the changes, thus made possible, and thus permitted, 
become also wise and salutary. 

The first is, simply, when it is evident that in any 
respect the Liturgy, or its application, may be ren- 
dered more perfect. To hazard, for this result, the 
safety or unity of the Church, may be inexcusable ; 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 119 

and the utmost certainty may be demanded, before a 
change of this kind shall be practically ventured. 
But should it be once established beyond the smallest 
doubt, that any addition or alteration would increase 
the excellence or the excellent influence of the Lit- 
urgy in any degree sufficient to compensate, and more 
than compensate, for the inconveniences incident to 
all change, it seems as difficult to say that it should 
not be adopted by the Church as to excuse any Christ- 
ian from adding to his virtues or to his usefulness. 

The second contingency is when, in process of time, 
words or regulations have become obsolete or unsuita- 
ble, and are already of necessity abrogated, or else 
maintained with the consciousness that they are hurt- 
ful encumbrances. Its urgency is abundantly writ- 
ten in the history of ancient and decayed churches 
clinging to liturgies in dead languages, and to usages 
which have ceased to have a meaning. 

The third contingency is when civil or social 
changes require ecclesiastical changes. It is impos- 
sible that the Church should fulfil its office, unless it 
is capable of adapting itself to the results of national 
revolutions, nor unless it can go out from its venerable 
temples into all highways and hedges, and find men, 
and speak to them in that manner which promises to 
be most efficient, whatever it may cost of departure 
from the customs of other times. 

The fourth contingency is when the earnest desire 
of any respectable number of the members of the 
Church, or of persons who are without its communion, 



120 The Memorial Papers. 

is urged in behalf of some not wholly unreasonable 
proposal of alteration. Their very wish, if it be 
deliberate, and uttered in a spirit of godly love, and 
especially if they ask only relaxation for themselves, 
and not a general abrogation, is itself an argument 
for the change ; easily refuted, no doubt, by stronger 
arguments ; but, where these do not exist, sufficient 
to prevail with those for whom nothing is greater 
than charity. 

The fifth contingency is when error or superstition 
has been introduced; when that which was at first 
good and healthful has been perverted to the nourish- 
ment of falsehood or wickedness; or when that which 
was always evil has found entrance, and is now re- 
vealed in its true character. 

Of the first of these classes of contingencies, and 
the changes which should result, an example is seen in 
the addition of the General and Special Thanksgivings 
at the revision of 1662 ; of the second, in many of 
the verbal alterations adopted at our own revision, 
and in the omission of the Commination; of the 
third, in the substitution of prayers for the President 
and Congress for the corresponding petitions in the 
English Prayer Book, and the introduction of the 
Thanksgiving service and the Family Prayers ; of the 
fourth, in the permission to omit the descent into 
hell in reading the Creed, and the sign of the cross 
in baptism ; and of the fifth, in the very adoption of 
the Common Prayer instead of the Missal and the 
Breviary. 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 121 

All liturgical changes of every kind are powerfully 
opposed by the consideration of the danger of parting 
with some blessing already possessed in exchange for 
uncertain improvement; by the difficulties attendant on 
change itself; by the preference for all which is already 
ancient, and connected with the dearest associations 
and most venerable memories ; by the peculiar sense 
of stability which has become a glory of our Church ; 
by the dread of diversity of usage; by the still 
greater dread of innovations, more and more serious, 
which may enter at the open breach ; by the dread, 
greatest of all, of changes in doctrine ; and by many 
apprehensions which proceed from the very jealousy 
of a profound affection for the Church as it is, even 
to the borders of its robes. 

On the other side, the necessity of changes, in the 

progress of events, even apart from the merits of 

each proposed change, draws some support from the 

desire to try all means of reaching the hearts of men ; 

from dissatisfaction with the imperfect success of all 

past efforts ; from a kindly wish to make the Church 

as comprehensive as a firm adherence to the truth 

will allow ; from tenderness towards tender consciences 

which ask indulgence ; from reluctance to assign 

absolute and unchangeable perpetuity to that which 

is but human ; from the conviction that all which man 

has devised can be improved; from comparisons 

between the usages of our Church and those of other 

communions or other ages, which, however little 

humiliating on the whole, cannot always show an 
li 



122 The Memorial Papers. 

equal preponderance of advantages on our part ; and 
from the broad principle that Catholicity must imply 
variety as well as uniformity, that the Church of 
Christ cannot be always restrained within any limits 
which at any one period may have been expedient 
and excellent. 

Between these opposite influences, the Commission 
have endeavoured to hold their way, while they invited 
the communications of all who either desired or con- 
demned any modifications of the now existing litur- 
gical usages in those particulars which fell within the 
scope of the inquiry. It has exceedingly lightened 
their task, that neither did they deem themselves 
appointed to seek, nor did they find the slightest dis- 
position to offer, suggestions directed towards any 
substantial variation from the established order of 
our ritual. Nothing has been proposed which could 
jeopard its doctrine; nothing which would mutilate 
any of its offices; scarcely anything which would 
require even the alteration of a word of the Prayer 
Book, except as addition is alteration ; and few things 
which could not be attained through changes in a 
single canon. 

The length of the morning services of the Church 
has been the subject of much discussion and of some 
complaint. Of some forty written answers to the 
queries of the Commission on this point, almost all 
assented positively to the expediency of curtailment, 
and not one rejected it in the form at least of division. 

To a suffrage so unanimous nothing can be opposed, 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 123 

except the certainty that for the solemnities of the 
chief public service, on Sundays and festivals, the 
time is not disproportionate to the occasion ; and with 
this, the attachment of pious hearts to every word of 
their accustomed and endeared worship. Even thus, 
however, curtailment through division is not resisted. 

It is not believed that in established congregations, 
on the Lord's Day, under the usual circumstances, 
any material abbreviation of the morning services 
is either necessary or desired. Whatever liberty 
might be allowed, the whole continuous sacrifice of 
prayer and praise would probably always begin and 
end as now, in most of our churches. The instances 
in which the need of abbreviation is really felt, are 
those of services held throughout the week and the 
year ; of assemblies which are not yet familiar with 
the course and significance of the services themselves ; 
of clergymen whose health is unequal to protracted 
speaking ; of the hot season in the south ; and of 
occasions where additional services, such as those of 
an Ordination, a Confirmation, or a numerous Commu- 
nion, extend the exercises far beyond the usual limit. 
To refuse, in instances like these, all power of abridg- 
ing so prolonged a service, cannot well subserve the 
edification of the people, and must impose an exhaust- 
ing burden on the officiating ministers, and perhaps 
tempt to indecent haste. 

When, at the Reformation, it was made the duty 
" of all priests and deacons to say daily the Morning 
and Evening Prayers, except they were letted by 



124 The Memorial Papers. 

preaching, studying of divinity, or by some other 
urgent cause," the Morning Prayer closed with the 
collect for Grace ; and the Evening Prayer began 
with the Lord's Prayer, to the exclusion of all which 
now goes before, and closed with the collect for Aid 
against Perils. Here was a service of sufficiently 
moderate extent to be easily performed and attended 
even daily. On Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
the Litany formed an additional service ; and, on 
Sundays, the Communion office, as far as to the close 
of the Prayer for the Church Militant, followed the 
Litany; while, on festivals occurring on days when 
the Litany was not read, it stood forth as a distinct 
service from the Morning Prayer. How extensively 
these several services were actually separated by an 
interval of time in the common parochial practice, it 
is now very difficult to determine ; nor is it important, 
since it is known that they were sometimes separated 
in fact, and since they were and are clearly separated 
in rubrical order. It was certainly intended that there 
should be an interval between the Morning Prayer 
and the Litany ; but it seems probable that the Litany 
preceded, without interval, the office of Communion. 

If it should be doubted whether the universal usage 
which had so long prevailed might not have taken 
away the right to separate these services, which, never- 
theless, our Bishops, in 1826, termed " a reasonable 
and godly practice; " yet, now that it has been as- 
serted and carried into effect in particular instances, 
it must be held to be quite re-established. It affords 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 125 

an obvious basis for the removal of many of the objec- 
tions to the length of our morning service, without the 
alteration of a word, and without any serious encroach- 
ment on that feeling which cherishes uniformity of 
observances throughout our Communion. When the 
morning services are to be extended by any addition, 
such as those of an Episcopal visitation or a large 
Communion, the Morning Prayer may be held at an 
earlier hour ; or, should this be found inconvenient, it 
can be recommended to the congregation to perform 
that portion of the services, excepting the declaration 
of absolution, at home, instead of their family devo- 
tions. Another mode of division, where those ser- 
vices can be held on the same day, would be that of 
reading the Morning Prayer with the Communion 
service, in the morning ; the Litany in the afternoon, 
preceded by the Lord's Prayer, a selection of Psalms, 
and the two Lessons for the Sunday evening, with two 
of the chants and the Creed ; and the Evening Prayer, 
in the evening, with the Lessons from the daily Calen- 
dar. These changes may safely be permitted, at the 
option of the clergy and their congregations. 

The same provision may possibly suffice, where the 
physical weakness of the clergyman demands a cur- 
tailment of his Sunday exertions. But since, after 
the experience of centuries, this can only be regarded 
as an exceptional necessity, it may require no other 
arrangement than that which is found in the usual 
resource of lay assistance, or in such abbreviation as 
necessity always justifies. 
11* 



126 The Memorial Papers. 

Where the daily service is performed, both its 
length and the unavoidable repetition of certain parts, 
are reasonable grounds of objection. Its restoration 
to the original dimensions would deprive those who 
attend it of the privilege of offering their petitions 
for their rulers and pastors, and for all conditions of 
men, as well as of the General Thanksgiving. This 
cannot be suggested ; but the omission pf all which 
precedes the Lord's Prayer, and of the Psalter, except 
a single Psalm at each service ; and the entire omis- 
sion of the Morning Prayer on the mornings when the 
Litany is read, excepting the Lord's Prayer, the Les- 
sons, and the Creed, would reduce the daily service to 
a length which might make it more attractive and 
more common. But since the daily service is not 
obligatory, and is seldom held, and little attended, it 
may possibly be deemed better to declare that those 
clergymen who perform it have full liberty to omit 
such portions as to each of them may seem most 
expedient. 

The instance of assemblies, which cannot yet be 
viewed as congregations of our Church ; assemblies of 
persons little acquainted with its usages, and, perhaps, 
accustomed to briefer exercises of prayer and praise, is 
one which the compilers and English revisers of the 
Prayer Book were not called to anticipate. It has now 
become real and frequent ; and the ministers of the 
Church must often preach the Gospel where the attempt 
to perform the entire service of an established worship 
would be incongruous, unsuccessful, and injurious. It 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 127 

appears that such of the clergy as have been engaged 
in missionary labours, at home or in foreign lands, 
have generally felt themselves at liberty to yield, in 
such circumstances, to the law of manifest reason and 
propriety, and so far to abridge as seemed meet for 
edification. That this freedom of theirs should be 
formally acknowledged, would probably relieve the 
inexperienced missionary from much anxiety and fear 
of misconstruction. But it subjects him to other 
anxieties not less serious, and it is quite at variance 
with the whole character of our ecclesiastical system 
that he should be left entirely without guidance. 
There should be rules for his conduct, wherever rules 
are practicable ; they should be uniform under uni- 
form circumstances, and they should be so flexible 
that they may vary when circumstances vary. One 
arrangement may be submitted for consideration, 
through which, in assemblies quite unprepared to take 
the least part in the services, his own position may be 
rendered less embarrassing. He may be distinctly 
authorized to omit all the responsive portions. Read- 
ing then as far as to the close of the Lord's Prayer, 
he might proceed immediately to a single Lesson, 
which should be followed by the Creed, and by the 
remainder of the Morning and Evening Prayer, so 
thrown together as to form one continuous petition, 
instead of a series of collects, demanding the respons- 
ive Amen. This arrangement might be continued no 
longer than till a response could be secured, when the 
regular performance of the service would be easily 



128 The Memorial Papers. 

substituted ; and, in the mean while, both the required 
ends would be attained, in this congregation of stran- 
gers, — brevity and congruity. 

On the question of the better adaptation of Lessons, 
Anthems, and Psalms to the different seasons of the 
ecclesiastical year, and in general on the expediency 
of any change in this department of our Liturgical 
system, there is a substantial agreement among those 
whose opinions the Commission has drawn forth; 
except as the difficulties and dangers of any change 
are dreaded by some who concur in acknowledging the 
existing imperfections. The Lessons from the Apo- 
crypha, which have been retained for certain Saints' 
Days, while all the other Lessons taken from those 
books have been dropped, are an exception, which 
seems almost adapted to discourage the celebration of 
public worship on those days, by assigning to them 
instruction of less value than is assigned to any undis- 
tinguished day of the whole year. That the fifth 
chapter of Ephesians is the second Evening Lesson 
for the Second Sunday in Lent, and furnishes the 
Epistle for the succeeding Sunday ; that the Gospel 
for the fourth Sunday in Lent, and that for the Sun- 
day before Advent, are one and the same ; that the 
first Morning Lessons for the Monday, Tuesday, and 
Wednesday before Easter are so little connected with 
the solemn remembrances of that season ; that the whole 
book of the Apocalypse — blessed as are those who study 
it! — remains almost unread in our churches on the 
Lord's Day, a feature peculiar to our American Prayer 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 129 

Book : are blemishes, which, though not of the gravest 
kind, are yet generally felt as blemishes, and as capable 
of an easy removal. It is a much weightier, inquiry, 
whether the whole series of Sunday Lessons might not 
be enlarged, so that many other sublime, interesting, 
and instructive chapters, especially from the Old Testa- 
ment, might, once in two years, be read in the ears of 
the people on the Lord's Day. This could be accom- 
plished either by a cycle of Lessons, which should 
extend through two years instead of one, or by per- 
mitting the substitution, on certain Sundays, of other 
Lessons, which should be placed side by side in the 
Calendar with those which are now appointed. The 
latter of these two methods would be the simplest, and 
would be liable to no other objection than that thus 
the same Lessons would not always be read in all 
churches on the same day ; a kind of diversity which 
not only now exists in churches separated by the St. 
Lawrence and the St. Croix, but which also has place in 
our own cities, when the Apostles' Creed and the first 
Declaration of Absolution are read in one church, and 
the Nicene Creed and the second Declaration in 
another. 

A wish has been widely expressed that either the 
whole Psalter might be so arranged, as to classify the 
Psalms for each day with more reference to their tone 
and subject, or else, at least, that in the penitential sea- 
son of Lent the more jubilant Psalms might be silent ; 
and it has been desired that, on the same principle, 
other Psalms or Anthems from the Scripture might, at 



130 The Memorial Papers. 

appropriate seasons, be substituted for the Venite, and 
for the other Psalms or Anthems which precede and 
follow the Lessons. The choice, however, which 
is now allowed between either of the ten Selec- 
tions and the Psalms for the day, together with the 
appointment of special Psalms for the chief festivals 
and fasts, appears to furnish a very sufficient degree of 
freedom in the use of the Psalter ; nor should any 
change be, without great consideration, permitted, 
which might result, as with the metrical Selections, in 
quite excluding some of the Psalms from all place in 
our public devotions. To additional Psalms or Scrip- 
tural Anthems, for occasional use, instead of the 
Venite, and before and after the Lessons, such as the 
song of Mary and that of Simeon, or any of those 
beautiful passages from the Prophets, w T hich, thus 
introduced, give great richness to the Breviary, there 
can be no objection so strong as to outweigh the obvi- 
ous advantage. It is, perhaps, the only particular in 
which the Common Prayer does not assert its Scrip- 
tural superiority. The combination of the glowing 
words of Scripture, matched w r ith solemn music, all 
attuned to the subject, the occasion, and the special 
thoughts which are swelling every heart, can certainly 
be carried much beyond the narrow limits of our few 
though blessed Anthems, without hazarding any sacri- 
fice of the simplicity of godly devotion. It would be 
an error, however, to attempt to give to the whole 
service a close adaptation to any particular and occa- 
sional order of devout sentiments ; so that, in peni- 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 131 

tential seasons, there should be nothing but sounds of 
sorrow, and, at festal times, only bursts of rapture. 
Worship would thus be in danger of becoming even 
histrionic and unreal ; since, in a world like this, 
Christian sorrows and Christian joys are never quite 
separated. 

The objections to the abolition and erasure of any- 
thing which is found in the Prayer Book, are founded 
on the opposition which is thus disclosed, to some long- 
established doctrine, practice, or language. The objec- 
tions to any mere addition are unspeakably less serious, 
for if it be conceived in the spirit of the Liturgy, and 
framed in words not quite unworthy of such associa- 
tion, it can only be said, at the utmost, that it is new, 
that it is not necessary, and that it a little swells the 
contents of the volume. These are objections which 
the least amount of real value in the addition is amply 
sufficient to overcome ; and, apart from these, the 
treasure is increased by every such addition. Few 
would wish a single page of the present book to be 
expunged ; but it would be impossible to imagine that, 
when the last revisers finished their work, it was such 
as to be for ever incapable of receiving or needing a 
single page beside. Additions, therefore, to the 
Prayer Book, when they are solicited by pious and 
grave men, are by no means to be refused at the 
threshold, as presumptive evils. There are several 
which are thus solicited, and which it would be incon- 
sistent with all candour to pronounce evidently need- 
less. In some instances, the want is actually supplied 



132 The Memorial Papers. 

in modes which, though only intended to be of local 
or temporary application, become almost as general 
as the established ritual, or else form but very inade- 
quate substitutes for that -which the collective Church 
should possess. In many of the States, an annual 
Fast is appointed by the civil authority ; and as there 
is no service for the occasion, fixed by the Common 
Prayer, the several Bishops supply forms, of which it 
may be said, without the slightest disrespect, that they 
are neither so well understood by the people nor so 
highly appreciated as the forms of the Common Prayer. 
That service which in most of the Dioceses is pre- 
pared as a third Sunday service, has no other autho- 
rity than a gradual usage, under the silent sanction 
of some Bishops, and the direct recommendation of 
some ; and, suitable as it is, it ought not to be thus 
adopted without that sanction which the Constitution 
requires for all additions to the Liturgy, unless we are 
prepared to concede the principle that, after the Morn- 
ing and Evening Prayer have been performed, any 
other service may be arranged from the Prayer Book, 
at the option of each clergyman, under the general 
supervision of the Ordinary ; a principle, indeed, which 
seems to involve no danger. The Burial Service is 
seldom performed simply as it stands in the Prayer 
Book. That service supposes the interment to take 
place in the churchyard, and the whole office to be 
read within the consecrated precincts. Very few 
funerals are in fact thus performed ; and other prayers 
are used, both in the house of mourning and in the 



Brsnop Burgess' Contribution. 133 

church ; and it would not be a task too difficult to be 
attempted, in the strength of God, if the Church 
should resolve to furnish every clergyman with forms 
fully adapted to the change of circumstances which 
time has brought, and yet strictly according with the 
tone of that holy and blessed service. It is univer- 
sally felt that the Preface to the Order of Confirmation 
is not that which ought to introduce the solemn ques- 
tion which it precedes — and that when few or none 
of the candidates for Confirmation are very young, it 
is painfully inappropriate. Originally a mere expla- 
nation prefixed in the form of a rubric to the Catechism, 
which was prefixed to the Order of Confirmation, it 
has little of the character which would doubtless have 
marked a preface prepared at first for the place which 
it occupies. When the Bishops, in 1826, proposed 
certain modifications of some of the services, one was 
a more fit introduction to this office, which might now, 
unless some still more suitable form were prepared, be 
allowed to be used at the option of the Bishop, as in 
the instance of the Ordination of Priests, or in that 
of the Declaration of Absolution. The concluding 
direction to the sponsors, in the office for the Baptism 
of Infants, was appended at the same time — and some 
objections might be obviated, if it should be followed, 
in like manner, by a substitute which might be less 
liable to be misunderstood, and the use of which, 
instead of the present conclusion, might be optional. 
It has been proposed that a similar option should be 

permitted between the prayer which immediately fol- 
12 



134 The Memorial Papers. 

lows the Lord's Prayer in that office, and some form 
which should not state, with so little qualification, the 
regeneration of the baptized child by the Holy Spirit. 
If, without touching the doctrine of the Church, such 
a permission could relieve hereafter the anxieties of 
good men of a tender conscience, and put to silence 
all needless controversy on the subjects of baptism and 
regeneration, these benefits might not be too dearly 
purchased ; but there is ground to apprehend that the 
same scruples might not be satisfied till the structure 
of other parts of the Baptismal services, of the Order 
for Confirmation, and of the Catechism, which are 
hardly less strong, should be submitted to a revision, 
which can neither be expected nor desired. But 
should the wish for the addition of an optional form, 
in a single instance, be sustained by any considerable 
portion of the Church, it ought not, without the 
gravest reasons, to be denied. 

Some additions to the number of the Special Prayers 
and Thanksgivings are asked in a manner and from 
quarters which claim the most respectful considera- 
tion, and on grounds w T hich are not easily invalidated. 
The Church has adopted the principle of special 
supplications at certain seasons of special need ; and 
has invited its members to solicit, in their hours of 
sorrow, danger, or deliverance, the sympathizing 
prayers of their brethren in the great congregation. 
Sin<je such is its rule and practice, one much endeared 
to the hearts of the most devout worshippers, no 
reason can be assigned why we should thus pray for 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 135 

those who are about to be admitted to Holy Orders, 
and not also pray, as our Lord has expressly charged 
us, that He would send forth labourers into His 
harvest ; why we should pray for those who cross the 
seas, and not for those who cross the continent ; why 
we should give thanks for a safe return from sea, or 
a recovery from sickness, and not for rescue from 
imminent perils by conflagration, or disasters on rail- 
roads or steamboats or elsewhere; w r hy we should 
constantly present our intercessions for the National 
Legislature, and never for those of the States ; why w r ar 
and peace, famine and pestilence, drought and rain, 
should be remembered before the throne of mercy, in 
our united prayers, and not the common interests 
which may at any time be exposed in other ways to 
equal jeopardy. A very few pages, or perhaps a 
single page, added to the small compass of the Prayer 
Book, will meet all these wants ; one form of prayer 
and one of thanks may be so framed as to be suffi- 
cient for every variety of disaster and deliverance ; 
and at the same time, a Collect for the young, to be 
used at seasons of catechizing or in Sunday Schools, 
may be supplied ; and the saddening thought may be 
spared our missionaries, that they are never more 
specially remembered at home in the common peti- 
tions of their brethren within those churches to which 
their hearts so often return. 

A larger discretion in the use of hymns and anthems 
is desired in many answers to the queries of the 
Commission. The use of hymns before and after the 



136 The Memorial Papers. 

Morning and Evening Prayer, has always been per- 
mitted, since the publication of the English Prayer 
Book, and was indeed expressly authorized at that 
time ; and our Church, in adopting a selection of 
hymns, which are "allowed to be sung," has only by 
implication restrained the liberty which still exists in 
the Church of England, of singing any hymn which 
may be approved by the minister. A selection of two 
hundred and thirteen hymns, had it been uniformly 
the most felicitous, yet as it could never comprise 
more than the choicest compositions which were in 
existence at the date of its publication, would in a 
little while be deficient. Pie who gives to the Church 
of Christ a single hymn which shall become a part of 
the utterance of all devout hearts, is one whom God 
has raised up for a noble and heavenly work ; and 
when any hymn takes such hold upon all Christian 
consciousness, there ought to be a power to appropri- 
ate it to the uses of public worship. Such hymns 
are constantly added to the general treasure ; and 
the problem is, how to introduce them into connexion 
with a Liturgy which is meant to be lasting ; and, 
though not unchangeable, yet seldom changed. The 
difficulty is, however, only in the slight inconvenience 
caused by the insertion of a few new hymns in new 
Prayer Books ; and may be partially obviated by print- 
ing them also separately. There is no objection in 
principle ; and every successive Convention might 
safely be trusted with this power. But, on the other 
side, it is far better that the number of hymns should 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 137 

be so limited as to allow them to become familiar to the 
memory ; the number of excellent hymns is really very 
limited in our language ; some of those which are con- 
tained in our own selection are hardly ever sung; and 
the power of adding to their number should be very 
sparingly exercised. Perhaps it might be sufficient 
if the right of congregations to sing other hymns 
than those in the selection, were expressly recognised ; 
and if a joint committee of both Houses of the General 
Convention were always appointed, with authority to 
recommend any additional hymns to be incorporated 
into the selection, after being submitted to the Con- 
vention. That other musical services, besides those 
which are now provided, may, under some circum- 
stances, be used to edification, can hardly be ques- 
tioned by any who know the powerful and delightful 
effect of such services in other times and communions ; 
alike the old English carol, the Roman vesper, the 
Lutheran hymn, and the Methodist chorus. The rule 
of keeping the great occasions of common worship free 
from a kind and an amount of musical performances 
which cannot be shared or appreciated by a large por- 
tion of the worshippers, must be held sacred. The 
effort on the other hand, to unite all the aids and 
attractions of sacred music in the praises of God has 
its justification both from the impulses of the pious 
heart, and from the language and the example of the 
Psalmist. While, then, the sober dignity and the uni- 
versal response of the Common Prayer are maintained, 
it deserves consideration whether an additional service 

12 * 



188 The Memorial Papers. 

of a far more musical character might not be arranged 
in which prayer should give place to praise, and the 
sermon or exhortation, if any there were, should be 
quite subordinate to the mere outburst of sacred 
song. 

The great question, whether extemporary prayer, 
or prayer in the use of words previously prepared by 
the individual clergyman, should at all be sanctioned 
in our public services, is by no means to be viewed 
as absolutely settled in the negative, either by any 
law of the Church, or by any ancient usage, or by 
established principle. It was a common practice of 
the Church of England, for a long period, to utter 
such prayers in the pulpit; and they are found 
annexed to printed sermons, down to the middle of 
the last century. The XLVth Canon of 1832, founded 
upon the XXXIVth of 1808, which was also founded 
on the Xth of 1789, only forbids the use of any 
other prayers than those prescribed by the Book of 
Common Prayer, " in performing the service/' " before 
all sermons and lectures, and on all other occasions 
of public worship." As the language of prohibition, 
where no moral wrong is forbidden, must not be urged 
to the utmost strictness, if a larger construction is 
equally probable, this Canon need not be understood 
as prohibiting other prayers after sermons or lectures. 
But should the Convention, for other reasons, amend 
that Canon, all doubt may be removed. Should it be 
decided and declared that any minister may in the 
pulpit or after the sermon freely offer prayers of his 



Bishop Burgess' Contribution. 139 

own composition, it is perhaps not very probable that 
those who are so accustomed to liturgical worship and 
so well satisfied with it, will much avail themselves 
of the liberty. But since the desire for such liberty 
merits no blame; since it is possible that in some 
minds an objection to the system of the Church might 
thus be removed ; and since there are arguments of 
no small weight, arguments from the nature of things, 
from the primitive practice, from the absence of any 
scriptural injunction, and from the prepossessions of 
many Christians of the present age, in favour of the 
permission, to grant it freely to this extent would be 
a measure on which the blessing of the Author of 
peace, the great Hearer of all faithful prayer, might 
be humbly expected. 

George Burgess. 

August, 1856. 



BISHOP WILLIAMS' CONTRIBUTION. 



I am directed to prepare and submit to the Com- 
mission of Bishops on the Memorial of Dr. Muhlen- 
berg and others, "a report upon the subject of 
Christian Unity, giving such range to the discussion, 
as may embrace the topics referred to under the 
questions submitted by the Committee, in Class L, 
Nos. 3, 4, 5, 10." I suppose, therefore, that I am 
expected to consider those questions, only so far as 
they stand connected with the subject under which 
they have been allotted to me. 

Question 3 seems to stand connected with the 
general subject of the promotion of Unity among all 
those who profess and call themselves Christians. 

Questions 4 and 5 have reference to the more effi- 
cient and united employment of our working forces 
among the clergy, and bear, therefore, only indirectly 
on the topic assigned me. 

Question 10 has evidently in view the advancement 
of Unity among the members of our own Communion. 

This is a wide range, indeed. Too wide for any- 

(140) 



Bishop Williams' Contribution. 141 

thing like a satisfactory discussion in the compass of 
a sub-report. Here, one must content himself with 
mere outlines, hints and suggestions. But to proceed 
to the several topics in their order. 

The first question (No. 3) is, " Sow may the influ- 
ences of our ministry be made to reach the multitudes 
now living without the Crospel in our oivn land and 
neighbourhood, (a) by social intercourse, (b) by extra 
parochial services, {c) by philanthropic labours, ^c, 

It were a very easy thing, in answer to this ques- 
tion, to draw an ideal picture of a parish that should 
present all these works, the object of which is to bring 
men into subjection to Christ in the Unity of His 
Body, as going on, in unimpeded and vigorous life. 
In other words, it would be easy to say what might 
or even ought to be. A combination of the twenty- 
two answers to this question which lie before me, 
would show how many things went to make up such 
an ideal ; and how complete a machinery for its 
working might readily be devised. 

But while we are certainly not to forget, that 
suggestions as to what things should be are valuable 
and proper, still we are, I conceive, specially bound to 
remember, that the first step towards making things 
what they should be, is to do the best we can with 
things as they are. This is always the beginning of 
all real reformation, as well as of all true advance. 

Now the two great difficulties in the way of making 
peaceful aggressions on the multitudes living without 



142 The Memorial Papers. 

the Gospel, and bringing them within the Unity of 
the flock of Christ, are, first, the deficient numbers of 
the clergy ; and secondly, the attempt to accomplish 
a work which is essentially missionary and aggressive, 
by ordinary parochial agencies. 

This is not the place to consider the means by which 
the numbers of the clergy may be increased. But 
let it be done, and the great difficulty is removed. 
There would be a supply of clergy, which, on the one 
hand, would enable the larger parishes to employ a 
more adequate clerical force ; and, on the other, would 
release many, at least, of the smaller parishes from the 
necessity of uniting in securing clerical services, 
and thus incurring the evils of non-residence, and a 
partial oversight. Then, in larger and smaller parishes 
alike, missionary and parochial work would go on, 
side by side, and the double duty, first of gathering, 
and then of training, w T hich rests on any Church 
situated as ours is, would be, with some good degree 
of adequateness, discharged. It seems to me, there- 
fore, that the labours and prayers of the Church 
should be directed to the increase of her clerical force, 
as the first and fundamental remedy for the evil which 
the question under consideration contemplates. 

But, of course, we are not to content ourselves with 
doing nothing until the ranks of the clergy are so 
replenished that we can begin to work upon a larger 
scale and in a more efficient way. What, then, taking 
things as they are, can be done in this important 
matter ? 



Bishop Williams' Contribution. 143 

In the first place, every parish in the Church can 
be divided into districts. In places where there is 
only one church in a town, the pastor can make this 
division directly. In places where there are two or 
more churches, the division can be agreed upon by 
both or all the pastors, and each can take such dis- 
tricts to oversee as may, by joint agreement, be 
assigned him. 

The districts, thus arranged, can then be subjected 
to a system of regular and thorough visitation. The 
more such visitations are made by the pastor, the 
better. But when, as in the generality of instances 
would doubtless be the case, there should be only one 
clergyman, or, at all events, a clerical force entirely 
inadequate to take charge of the work, it would be 
easy to employ competent lay people as district visit- 
ers. And I am persuaded that if the effort once 
were made, men might be found who would under- 
take this labour, as well as women. This would bring 
about, it seems to me, precisely the kind of social in- 
tercourse which is suited to the exigencies of the case. 
For these visiters would be brought into contact with 
"all sorts and conditions of men; " since, of course, 
they are not to confine their visits to those who have 
been born and bred in, or become already connected 
with, the Church. 

Through them also — each acting in his or her sub- 
division of the district, which, let it be observed, in 
passing, should be as small as may be — cases requir- 
ing immediate spiritual oversight, or temporal relief, 



144 The Memorial Papers. 

would be reported to the pastor or ministers ; children 
would be brought into contact with the Sunday or Pa- 
rochial Schools ; Books and Tracts would be distributed 
or sold ; sick persons would be directed to the Hospi- 
tal or Home for the Sick, where there was one ; and 
it could be ascertained when and where would be the 
best time and place for holding a Cottage Lecture, or 
any service within the limits of the district, for the 
benefit of those who might have been brought under 
these beginnings of a Christian training. 

All this, doubtless, would be best done where there 
should be the largest clerical force ; but I do not 
believe that any clerical force in any parish, large or 
small, would be able to work out such a system — the 
barest outlines of which have here been touched upon 
— without lay co-operation. And it would not be well 
that they should, even if they could. In country 
parishes, everything will, of course, come more imme- 
diately under the pastor's eye ; and the smaller the 
parish, the more immediate will be his supervision. 
But were some such plan adopted, there would every- 
where be at least some supervision, and that would 
evidently be a great advance on none. 

I have not felt at liberty to run out the preceding 
sketch into details ; and I feel that, in many points, 
it is extremely imperfect. But I believe it will be 
found to unite most of the practical suggestions of the 
replies which have been returned to this question ; and 
it seems to me that it suggests an entirely feasible 
plan ; a plan, too, which would relieve and sustain 



Bishop Williams' Contribution. 145 

our generally overworked and overburdened clergy. 
There is, of course, nothing new in it ; and it is 
already, in many places, in successful operation. 
Above all, it requires no machinery of legislation, but 
can be entered on at once. 

Questions 4 and 5, forming the second division of 
those assigned me, are as follows : — 

4. Ought we, or ought we not, to have itinerating 
Evangelists, as well as settled Pastors ; also permanent 
Deacons, and a portion of the clergy more especially 
devoted to Theological and Biblical studies ? 

5. Can any method for division of labour be sug- 
gested, by lohich persons of marked ability in a certain 
line shall have their useful gifts specially exercised to 
the edification of the Church; and by ivhich ministers 
thrown out of parish life, may yet be advantageously 
oocupied ? 

Three principal topics are here suggested : itinerat- 
ing Evangelists, permanent Deacons, and division of 
clerical labour. 

That there should be some method adopted of 
reaching men, besides the ordinary workings of paro- 
chial organizations, is, I suppose, admitted by every 
one ; and has already been asserted under the pre- 
vious head. In the early Church, this was provided 
for — and that antecedently to the formation of par- 
ishes — by the body of the clergy who lived w T ith the 
Bishop at his seat, and from that as a centre, radiated, 
as one may say, into the neighbouring country. After 
a while, the conversion and Christianizing of nations 

13 



146 The Memorial Papers. 

rendered such itinerant missionary labour in a degree 
unnecessary, since the conservation and training of 
those already brought within the Christian fold, were 
the w T orks to be performed. Hence arose the parish, 
taking the place of the old itinerancies. But now 
the progress of civilization has engendered a state 
of things akin to that which preceded parochial 
organization. It has given us an enormous mission- 
ary work to perform in the midst of a nominally 
Christian country. And as the old necessities return, 
we must return, too, to the old methods of meeting 
them, in spirit at least, if not in the letter. 

The need then is plain enough ; nor do I apprehend 
that much doubt exists as to the way in w T hich it may 
be met. The practical difficulty is in finding men 
to undertake the work of Itinerating Evangelists, or 
Missionary Priests, call them w T hich you will : and if 
they are found, in providing for their support. Now 
this is a matter which must be chiefly left to the 
Bishops and Missionary Boards of the several Dio- 
ceses. No discussion, and far less any legislation, 
can create a body of Missionary Priests. Such a body 
will grow up only through prayer and watchfulness. 
And their selection and designation must rest with 
the Bishops. As men appear, w r ho are moved to 
undertake such a work, and if the work is a real and 
needed one the Spirit of God ivill move men to 
undertake it ; then let the Bishops try them, and 
when, by the aid of missionary or other funds, they 
can sustain them, let them, in God's name, send them 



Bishop Williams' Contribution. 147 

forth. Here, for aught I can see, the matter must 
practically rest. 

It is all important, however, to remember, that if 
such a body of clergy should grow up, although they 
might be passing as opportunity offered into the ranks 
of the parochial clergy, and the parochial clergy into 
theirs, yet the two bodies should be kept distinct. 
And especially that sufficient provision should be 
made, that the itinerants should labour under the 
immediate direction of the Bishops, and should be 
stringently prohibited from officiating, except at the 
request of the Rector, within the limits of any Parish. 
Were not this provided for, the mischief which they 
might, even with the best intentions, do, would more 
than counterbalance all the good they could accom- 
plish. 

As to permanent Deacons, there is, I conceive, 
great room for doubt ; inasmuch as I understand the 
phrase to mean, persons who should be admitted to 
Deacons' orders, with no expectation of proceeding 
further. It is obvious from the ordinal, that the 
Church does not in any case contemplate such an 
arrangement. The question, therefore, I do not care 
to discuss ; nor indeed to dwell upon it farther than 
to say, that, whatever arrangements may be made for 
providing for an increase in the order of Deacons, and 
their more general employment in Deacons' work, I 
am entirely convinced, that in the country parishes at 
least, no arrangement will be of any use which con- 
templates anything less than the complete removal of 



148 The Memorial Papers. 

these Deacons from all secular employment, except, 
perhaps, the occupation of teaching. In large towns, 
where individuals are lost in the mass, this may not 
be necessary. In the country it is imperatively so. 
And any attempt to get on without it, will only tend 
to bring the ministerial office into discredit, and do 
more harm than good. 

As to the matter of a better division of clerical 
labour, and the employment of many among the clergy 
who are now unemployed, little need be said. We are 
a young Church, in a young country ; and w^e labour 
under a difficulty inherent in our position, that each 
man is compelled to do something at all things. But 
I do not conceive that anything can be done towards 
correcting this evil, by cut and dried plans and 
schemes, digested and arranged formally and before- 
hand. As time advances, the evil will to a certain 
extent cure itself. And if, now that this subject is 
fairly brought before them, the Ecclesiastical autho- 
rities of the different Dioceses will give it their atten- 
tion, we shall be likely to gain still more rapidly. In 
fact, the matter must be left to the common sense of 
the authorities of each Diocese : and when they will 
second the natural course of things, which is already 
working in the right direction, the difficulty and evil 
will ultimately disappear. 

The last question (No. 10) which I am called to 
consider, is : " Mow may a spirit of true brotherly 
intercourse among our members be promoted?" 

I might, of course, enumerate a hundred ways for 



Bishop Williams' Contribution. 149 

accomplishing this great end ; and might discuss the 
advantages and disadvantages of brotherhoods and 
sewing circles, and various other plans, which bear 
directly or indirectly on this subject. But I prefer 
to go behind them all, and say where I believe the 
foundation must be laid, if anything efficient and per- 
manent is to be accomplished. Our people must be 
thoroughly and carefully instructed in the relations 
which they bear to each other, as members first of 
the whole Church, and next of the same Parish. 
This is the order in which these topics stand, consi- 
dering their importance : if sequence of time be the 
regulator, the order is to be reversed. 

While on the one hand it is true that we have 
attempted to perform missionary work under parochial 
organizations, it is as true that only rarely has the 
Parish been made all that it should be made, or the 
people been duly instructed in their relations to each 
other as members of the same Parish — an integral 
part of the universal Church. I shall not, I hope, 
be supposed to forget, that the essential foundation 
of all Christian brotherly kindness, is to be sought 
in the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. I am 
only suggesting the means of developing and culti- 
vating what is already supposed to exist. Increase, 
not creation, is that of which the question speaks. 
And suggestion is all I can attempt. 

I had prepared some further remarks on the general 
subject of Christian Unity, designed especially to 
show that the restraints — doctrinal and other— under 
13* 



150 The Memorial Papers. 

which we are placed, in relation especially to the 
extension of holy orders, are not mere accidents, and 
indications of sectarianism, taken up at will ; but 
things rendered necessary by the abnormal condition 
of Christendom, and forming part and parcel of our 
true Catholicity. But my paper has run to such a 
length that I omit them, and respectfully submit to 
my brethren of the Commission the foregoing con- 
siderations. 



(tommmwafami 



BISHOP MEADE'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Bishops appointed to consider the Memorial of the 
Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, and others. 

Dear Brethren : — 

I have received your Circular, asking for communi 
cations on the important subjects committed to youi 
consideration, and offer the following suggestions, as 
coming within the terms of your Commission. 

1st. It has ever appeared to me that the Church 
does not make the most profitable use of the Psalms. 
One-half of our congregations, at least, perhaps a 
larger part, have services only once on the Sabbath ; 
and, therefore, never hear one-half of the Psalms, in 
which half are many of the most edifying ; while the 
other half, being read according to the days of the 
month on which the Sabbath falls, are read unequally. 
Would it not be better to have the wdiole of them, 
with the exception of such as are not so suitable for 
Christian worship, arranged in selections, according to 
the different topics of prayer, praise, penitence, &c, 
&c, and according to the seasons and days which the 

(153) 



154 The Memorial Papers. 

Church celebrates ; making some fifty or sixty in 
number, and leaving the minister to choose out of 
them as he may think best, except when they belong 
to a certain day or season ? Would not this be better 
than the present plan, or than that of Bishop White, 
Hobart, and others, viz. letting the minister select 
for himself one or more Psalms at pleasure ? Might 
not some of the longer and less important Lessons be 
abridged, as was proposed by the above-mentioned 
Bishops? 

2dly. It has always appeared to me that the service 
on Communion days was too long. Inasmuch as the 
prayers in the Communion service contain nearly all 
that is in the Litany, and are therefore a repetition, 
I suggest that the Litany might be omitted. I would 
substitute for it, and for the prayer for all conditions 
of men, in the Morning Service, the prayer for the 
whole state of Christ's Church militant, and use it in 
the Morning Service, in place of the prayer for all 
conditions of men. This prayer for the Church mili- 
tant comes to us from primitive times, and was called 
the short or shorter Litany. This change would super- 
sede the necessity of one of the changes of posture in 
the Communion service, which are thought by many 
too numerous. 

3dly. The service on Ordination occasions is felt by 
Bishops, Clergy, and people, to be oppressive and inju- 
rious. The service peculiar to the Ordination is most 
solemn and impressive, and its effect should not be 
weakened by the addition of so much of that which 



Bishop Meade's Communication. 155 

is read every Sabbath. I would suggest the omission 
of the Litany and Commandments on that occasion. 

4thly. I would suggest that the same method 
which our forefathers adopted in relation to a clause 
in the Apostles' Creed and to the form of ordination, 
be applied to the declaration of regeneration, and 
being born of the Spirit, after baptism. In the Creed, 
we are allowed to omit the words " He descended into 
hell," or use some other. In the ordination of minis- 
ters, two forms are allowed, according to the option of 
the Bishop. Why not the same privilege of omission 
granted to the minister in baptism, or the use of an- 
other prayer, which might be proposed ? I am per- 
suaded that nothing would contribute more to peace 
among ourselves, and to remove prejudices from the 
minds of those who belong to other denominations and 
the community at large, than such an arrangement. 
It would be in entire accordance with what now seems 
to be generally admitted, viz. that a considerable 
latitude of opinion as to the meaning of certain 
expressions in the Baptismal Service is allowed. If 
it be allowed, why enforce on all the use of words 
which, by their sound, seem to convey a meaning 
which is repudiated by so many ? I have long known 
that a painful difficulty is felt in the use of these 
passages, not by one portion of our ministers and 
people, but by a number who differ from them in other 
points. I believe that public baptism would be much 
more common, but for the reluctance to use these 
expressions before so many who do not understand or 



156 The Memorial Papers. 

approve them. Many parents, I believe, are preju- 
diced against the baptism of their children, and put 
it off, on account of these words, and their supposed 
meaning. I believe nothing stands more in the way 
of converts from other denominations, and especially 
such of their ministers as are worth having, than the 
required use of these words in our Baptismal service. 
A slight alteration in the preface to our Confirmation 
Service, or another preface, to be used at the pleasure 
of the Bishop, would also be desirable. 

As I fear my brethren will be wearied by many and 
lengthy communications, I omit other suggestions of 
less importance, and sincerely commend them to the 
direction of the Great Head of the Church. 
Your friend and brother, 

William Meade. 

October 4, 1854. 

In the General Convention at which the proposition 
of Bishops White, and Hobart, and indeed of our whole 
House of Bishops, to make certain changes in our 
services was made and adopted, I oifered, as a substi- 
tute, though I did not press it to a vote, that the 
minister who thought the Morning Service too long, 
might, at his discretion, omit, on any one Sabbath, 
either the Psalms, Litany, or Ante-Communion service; 
varying such omissions. There were some judicious 
persons, who told me afterward that they regretted it 
was not urged. 



BISHOP POLK'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Et. Kev. Dr. Otey, President of the Commission op 
Bishops, &c. 

The lateness of the hour at which I submit this 
statement of the views I entertain, of the matters 
committed to you by the Church, is to be ascribed 
not to a want of interest in the subject, nor yet to the 
fact of my not having formed my opinions at an 
earlier day, but alone to the want of time. And 
they are now offered, not without a becoming diffi- 
dence, in view of the gravity of the subject under 
discussion, and the importance of the consequences 
which may follow, from any recommendations you 
may submit in regard to it. 

I take it, the pith and gist of the inquiry intrusted 
to you, and through you to the Church, is, whether 
anything can be done, beyond what is now being done, 
to qualify her more completely to fulfil her mission 
for the conversion and sanctification of men. 

14 (157) 



158 The Memorial Papers. 

I think there can. 

First — I am satisfied our Liturgical services, as 
now used, are to a certain extent impediments in our 
way. 

Second — I believe our Canons, as they now exist, 
cut us off from the use of a class of labourers in the 
ministerial office, who would be eminently available 
if at our disposal. 

The objection to the Liturgy to which I allude, is 
not to any doctrinal statements it contains, though 
there are forms of expression here and there, not 
exactly to the taste of parties within and without the 
Church, yet it is believed to embrace and offer a 
breadth of platform, sufficiently extended to afford a 
satisfactory footing to all fair and candid Christian 
minds. And at all events, for myself, I am perfectly 
satisfied with it as it stands in this particular, and 
should think we would lose power by any change. 

It is not therefore to the presence of anything to 
which I object, and of which I would be rid, that I 
am opposed, but to the absence of certain things 
which I think necessary to the completeness of the 
objects proper for the petitions of the Church, when 
she comes before the throne of grace as a public 
worshipper, in her aggregate capacity. There are 
petitions proper for her, demanded by her own con- 
dition, and the necessities of those for whom she is to 
plead, for which no formulas are provided, which 
ought to be supplied ; such as prayers for an increase 
of labourers in the harvest, for blessings upon Mis- 



Bishop Polk's Communication. 159 

sionary enterprises, for Sunday and other schools, 
Colleges and Seminaries, for State Legislatures and 
Conventions for remodeling the fundamental state 
law, and any other subjects, if such there be, of an 
equally general nature, and so nearly connected with 
the interests and honour and efficiency of the Church. 

Besides such additions, a few words are manifestly 
wanted in the preface to the Confirmation service, to 
relieve it of a well known and obvious awkwardness 
where persons who have been baptized in adult age 
are to be confirmed, to make it conform to the facts 
of the case, and to the language of the address of the 
Bishop immediately following. I think also we want 
a larger number and variety of Hymns. So much 
for additions. 

My impression is, that a rearrangement of the 
Lessons might be made with advantage. There are 
occasions where to my mind there is a glaring want of 
adaptation in the arrangement as it now stands ; for 
example, during Lent, and upon other occasions, 
greater appropriateness, I think, must have occurred 
to others as needed. 

I have myself also felt a desire for greater freedom 
in the use of the Psalms in the reading of the Psalter. 
But upon this I would not insist. 

The chief objection, however, after supplying the 
additions above mentioned, lies against the length of 
the service, as noiv used. The feeling is, and I 
sympathize fully with it, that to be bound to use the 
Morning Prayer, Litany, and ante-Communion ser- 



160 The Memorial Papers. 

vice, much more the post-Communion, on all occasions 
of public worship, is to burden the minds of the 
people ; the unexceptionable, nay, admirable cha- 
racter of the several Offices separately considered, to 
the contrary notwithstanding. Beyond the point of 
instruction and refreshing edification, lies the region 
of weariness, impatience, offence, and hostility. Our 
object is to arrest and fix attention, to secure sympa- 
thy, to inform and control the minds and hearts 
of those to whom we go, and to build them up in the 
faith and obedience of the Gospel. 

Whatever facilitates this, helps ; whatever stands in 
the way of it, hinders us in our work. There are 
circumstances in which all the services help us ; whe- 
ther in such circumstances, a different arrangement 
and use of them would not help us still more, is the 
question. There are other circumstances in which 
the use of all the service is a manifest and felt hinder- 
ance. We are David in Saul's armour. Many people 
see this at the time, and they feel for us, but for the 
success of our mission much more; and we feel as 
others feel. There is not a Bishop, I apprehend, in 
the Church, whatever may have been his field, who 
has not felt this, as he has passed over his Diocese ; 
but beyond all, not one whose field has lain in the 
less populous and newer regions of our country. The 
principle on which all this turns is a perfectly simple 
one, and it is that which prompts judicious people 
when they wish to influence others ; not to begin by 
offending their prejudices, and in imparting knowledge 



Bishop Polk's Communication. 161 

not to outstrip the capacity, or the experience or the 
attainments of their subjects of instruction. I have 
now been seventeen years in the Episcopate ; my field 
has been in the newer States of our Union, and I 
have had personal experience of the working of our 
system throughout this field ; and while my apprecia- 
tion of the beauty and perfection of the several 
services of the Church, separately considered, has 
grown and strengthened w r ith my age and my use of 
them, so that I will yield to no man in admiration of 
their scriptural truthfulness, their beauty as human 
nceptions and compositions, or their pre-eminent 
aptitude to fulfil the conditions and illustrate the 
spirit demanded by such formulas, I am compelled to 
say, the manner in which they are grouped and used, 
under our rubrics, is not unto edification. We are 
not as powerful as a Church as we might be, if we 
had more liberty. Of this I am firmly persuaded. 
In reference to how things look as seen by one from 
without, I may observe that not long since in speaking 
to an eminent man of another way of religious thinking 
and acting, he said to me, " The rigour with which your 
Church insists on the use of all your service, is the 
dead weight you carry. That heavy cast-iron service, 
as used, hampers your aspirations ; and if I were a 
mere sectarian, the last thing I should wish to see your 
Church do, would be, to give you more liberty in its 
use ; for if she were to give you freedom in that, it 
would be the heaviest blow that could be dealt to 

14* 



162 The Memorial Papers. 

dissent ; it is the strongest objection that can be urged 
against you." 

What I would plead for, is, not to supersede any 
part of the service, but to allow, under the discretion 
of the ecclesiastical authority, if you will, a liberty to 
use or not to use such portions of it upon occasions, 
as in the judgment of the officiating minister may be 
expedient. 

It may be said this is by common consent granted 
now, and must often be conceded from the necessity 
of the case. A safer guide, and a more acceptable 
authority, would be the express legislation of the 
Church. 

In regard to those dioceses in the plantation states, 
there is known to exist a large population peculiarly 
accessible to the Church, which cannot read. Our 
business now is, not to inquire why it is they cannot 
read, or to concern ourselves with schemes by which 
they may be enabled to rea-d, but to take them as they 
are, and to make the best provision for their spiritual 
enlightenment which is clearly and easily practicable. 

Now, that our services, as they are required by law 
to be used, are not adapted to the necessities of this 
class, is evident. What then are we to do ? One- 
half of the whole population of my diocese is of this 
class, and a proximately large proportion of the popu- 
lation of the dioceses of my brother Bishops around 
me. Is it not the duty of the Church to see to this ? 

I am perfectly aware of the extreme sensitiveness 
of the Church to any movement proposing to touch 



Bishop Polk's Communication. 163 

in any way the Book of Common Prayer ; and I have 
no doubt if we could know the history of the public 
mind in every age of the past, at which alterations 
in the formularies of the public worship of the Church 
were proposed, we would always find a like sensitive- 
ness to have existed. It is proper it should be so. 
For it is a grave thing to change the channels through 
which the prayers of the faithful have found expres- 
sion in their approaches to God, and which have come 
down from the past with the powerful influence, and 
authority of historical and traditional associations. 

Veneration for the past, and the productions of 
the past, in these times of " progress," is a commend- 
able sentiment. But it is possible to push a com- 
mendable sentiment to an indefensible extreme ; and, 
for my own part, with all proper deference for the 
wisdom of those who have preceded us, I dare to 
say the men of the Church in this generation are as 
competent to judge what the Church of this genera- 
tion needs, as the men of any past generation have 
been to judge of what was wanted in the past. And 
this I say, with the full knowledge of the fact that 
the Saviour has promised to be with his Church 
always, even unto the end of the world. Our experi- 
ence is a talent to the full as important as any vener- 
ation for antiquity ; and to silence it out of deference 
to the latter is sheer superstition. I find no difficulty 
therefore in dealing with this matter out of considera- 
tion for mere antiquity. The time was when the 
Church had no liturgical services at all ; and if we 



164 The Memorial Papers. 

could come at the fact, we should find, I dare say, 
she was as effective in the execution of her mission 
as she has ever been since; We should not fail to 
remember that this whole matter of having a Liturgy 
at all, is an affair of expediency, and of expediency 
alone, and should take care lest we run into the error 
of investing so good a thing as ours in particular with 
such a character as shall expose us to the charge of 
" burning incense to our drag." 

I trust the Commission will be able to unite upon 
some things, which, while it preserves to us all that is 
valuable in our conservatism, will so set us free in 
the arrangement and use of our Liturgical services, 
as shall satisfy the lovers of form and order, meet the 
reasonable expectation and demands of such as feel 
the present condition of things burdensome, and 
secure to the ministry such a measure of freedom as 
shall give to their labours the greatest amount of 
efficiency. 

But another point submitted for consideration is, 
whether the efficiency of the Church could be pro- 
moted by altering the policy she has hitherto generally 
pursued in the selection of the men she has commis- 
sioned in her ministry. 

I am well satisfied she has been too stringent in 
this particular. 

And in the outset I desire to say, that nothing 
could be further from my mind than the thought of 
tolerating a lowering of the general standard of cleri- 
cal attainments. That the amplest provision should 



Bishop Polk's Communication. 165 

be made for the cultivation of those designed for the 
service of the Church is conceded as a thing of course 
upon all hands. And that to meet all the exigencies 
of an age of cultivation, the dispensers of the word 
of God must avail of this provision, is equally con- 
ceded. But that an equal amount of cultivation is 
required in all, will not of course be contended. For 
the highly cultivated among the laity, there should 
be a class of adequately cultivated clergy, and these 
in numbers large enough to meet the whole demand. 
But of the laity, as a whole, a very small proportion 
belong to this class. The vast mass, " the masses," 
are in no need of teachers of such accurate and full 
and polished cultivation. Nay, it is very possible to 
push cultivation until it will become an obstacle. 
This I think must have been experienced by many of 
the clergy of the Churches, in attempting to instruct 
plain people in private as well as from the pulpit. 
Cultivation begets a style of thought, expression, and 
carriage, which makes it difficult for the cultivated to 
adapt themselves to the feelings, the tastes, and sym- 
pathies of the uncultivated. It interposes a sort of 
barrier which prevents access. It is not enough to 
point us to the Church of England minister as a proof 
to the contrary. The difference in the social organi- 
zation of the two countries forbids this being used as 
an illustration. In England, the visits of the clergy 
to the humbler classes, are accepted as acts of conde- 
scension, and valued accordingly. The sense of 
inferiority is felt and acknowledged. But it is wholly 



166 The Memorial Papers. 

different in this country. The very consciousness of 
any great disparity in intellectual and social cultiva- 
tion superinduces shyness, and provokes alienation. 
Ordinary minds think in ordinary channels, draw 
illustrations from homely subjects and scenes, need to 
be dealt with in the plainest way, and in the plainest 
language. If they can get what they need in this 
particular in the Church, there is no inherent opposi- 
tion to her forms to drive them from her. If not, 
they will go where they find what their minds and 
hearts require. As things now are, we have no pro- 
per provision for this class of persons in the ministry 
of the Church. They do not find among us the sympa- 
thy, the social sympathy, the conversational equality, 
the freedom from a cultivated and exact propriety, 
which theif less cultivated natures require, to put 
them at ease. They feel under restraint, and go 
most naturally therefore from us, to those among 
whom they experience nothing of all this. And I 
am firmly persuaded this must ever be the case, until 
such a provision is made to supply them in the Church 
with a class of ministers just such, in their intellectual 
and social qualifications, as those who now command 
their attention and secure their affection and submis- 
sion beyond her borders. The Roman Church under- 
stands this perfectly well, and makes the necessary 
provision. 

I am aware of the dread entertained by some of 
our brethren of what is called an unlearned ministry. 
They forget that three-fourths of the population 



Bishop Polk's Communication. 167 

embracing Christ's religion in this country, are under 
the influence of just such a ministry, in spite of that 
dread, and that without the advantage of supervision 
by the intelligence found in the Bishops of our Dio- 
ceses, to say nothing of their separated condition, or 
the crude and questionable doctrine of their religious 
systems. A remedy for this would be to open the 
door of the Church to their spiritual guides, and to 
give them, or such of them as in our judgment would 
be useful, the Church's commission, and protection, 
and supervision. The people will have just this class of 
teachers, and we see they are not without some reason 
for their choice. The question then is, whether it is 
best to let them provide themselves with them to the 
increase of schism, or whether we shall provide them 
to the curtailment of schism. 

The fear that their being in our orders will lessen 
the respectability of the Church in the eyes of the 
world, is of the earth earthy, and not worth a 
moment's consideration. The fear that such persons 
will make their way into parishes they are incapable 
of filling, is shown to be groundless by every day's 
experience in the Church, as things now stand. That 
is an evil which will cure itself. There is nothing to 
be feared from that quarter whatever. 

The obligation on the Church to promote the resto- 
ration of unity in the body of Christ, by every means 
not involving a breach of principle, is an obvious 
duty of the highest character. And it well becomes 
us, to whom God has given such a position of emi- 



168 The Memorial Papers. 

nence and advantage, to consider our duty in this 
regard. I think it cannot be doubted we should avoid 
the errors of our predecessors in being too stiff ; and 
as we can afford to make concessions, we should rise 
above the narrow trammels of a bigoted devotion to 
things not essential, and sacrifice such as may be 
yielded without invading fundamentals, to recover 
brethren who are men as well as we are, and honest, 
and sincere, and capable men too. 

May God, my dear brother, guide you and your 
highly esteemed and venerated associates to a wise 
and safe conclusion in the deeply responsible circum- 
stances in which you are placed, is the earnest prayer 
of, 

Affectionately, your fellow servant in the Gospel, 

Leonidas Polk. 

May 13, 1856. 



BISHOP FREEMAN'S COMMUNICATION. 



Answers to some of the Questions propounded by the Com- 
mittee of the House of Bishops on Dr. Muhlenberg's 
Memorial. 

Division I. 

Question 1. — There are, I suppose, at least two 
different "methods" of preparing young men for the 
ministry of the Church, employed at the present time : 
the one by means of Theological Seminaries, the other 
by private study under the direction of the Bishop of the 
Diocese, or some parish clergyman. A large majority 
of the existing clergy, including the Bishops, have, I 
apprehend, been prepared by the latter me.thod. 
Which of these methods has proved most successful 
" in respect to learning, piety, intellectual power, or 
practical efficiency," must be matter of opinion, formed 
from observation and comparison. Undoubtedly some 
of our ablest, most pious, most learned, and most effi- 
cient clergymen may be found in each class. Theolo- 
gical Seminaries have their advantages, in respect to 

15 (169) 



170 The Memorial Papers. 

learning and intellectual training. In respect to the 
promotion of personal piety and practical efficiency, 
there is much reason to doubt their superiority. A 
large proportion of the most " useful and efficient 
clergymen" that have come under my special observa- 
tion have been prepared for the ministry without the 
advantages of a Seminary training. 

If there were any means of ascertaining what is the 
"prevalent character of our preaching," one might 
be prepared to give some definite answer. There is, 
however, I am inclined to think, one very common 
fault in preaching, particularly in our large cities, 
which might, and, in my judgment, ought to be 
amended; and that is " firing over the heads of the 
people." Few of our clergy aim loiv enough. Their 
sermons are too apt to be prepared with reference to 
the intellectual and learned, the cultivated and refined, 
rather than to those classes which compose the majority 
of almost every congregation, even of the most fash- 
ionable. The consequence is, these last are but little 
edified. It seems not to be understood — that which I 
believe to be the fact — that the intellectual and learned 
are generally quite as much profited, as well as better 
pleased, with plain, unpretending, and direct preach- 
ing, than with that which makes a parade of learning, 
and seems to claim admiration for the skill and intel- 
lectual ability of the preacher. I always admired the 
good sense and conscientiousness of that parish priest, 
of whom it is said that, before preaching his sermon, 
he always read it to his cook, who was a plain, honest- 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 171 

minded woman, and, if there were a word or sentence 
that she appeared not to understand, he immediately 
changed his language or the structure of the sentence. 
The aim of every preacher should be to convert the 
impenitent, and edify the believing ; to win souls to 
Christ, and to advance in the Christian life those 
which are already his, without any reference to their 
rank or grade in human society. But, unhappily, 
there is a secret tendency in us all, Bishops as w r ell 
as priests and deacons, to " preach ourselves" as well 
as " Christ Jesus the Lord." Yea, perhaps, the ten- 
dency is stronger in Bishops than in the other clergy, 
from the fact that they have a very natural ambition 
to stand at the head of their clergy, not merely in 
earnestness, and zeal, and self-denying labours, but 
also in the exhibition of intellectual power and 
eloquence. 

2. The " modes of instruction, besides sermons from 
the pulpit," that I have " found specially beneficial 
and effective," are parochial visiting, involving that 
kind of conversational intercourse which has been 
quaintly called " parlour preaching," and Bible classes. 
My mode of conducting the latter was peculiar ; and, 
as it seemed to me to be, in a remarkable degree, 
effective, I will, at the risk of being tedious, give a 
description of it. In order to meet the case of mem- 
bers whose diffidence or timidity caused them to shrink 
from a public exhibition of their arguments or a pos- 
sible exposure of their ignorance or want of proficiency, 
and thus to secure the attendance of the greatest 



172 The Memorial Papers. 

number, I dispensed with the usual viva voce catecheti- 
cal method, and adopted a plan which, though it in- 
volved no small amount of labour on my part, I found 
very influential and effective. It was to prepare writ- 
ten questions upon the portion of Scripture prescribed 
as the lesson. These questions were written in a 
blank book, which I kept for the purpose, and num- 
bered. They were also written upon slips of paper, 
with the numbers to correspond with those in the book. 
At the close of the exercises at one meeting, the les- 
son for the next was assigned ; and the questions were 
distributed among the members of the class. Some- 
times the number of questions was so large as to re- 
quire the assignment of several to each member ; at 
others, the number was so small that there was not 
one for each. It was of no consequence ; for all were 
expected to study the lesson so as to be prepared to 
point out, if they chose, any deficiency in the answers. 
These answers were returned in writing, and numbered 
to correspond with the questions, but without signa- 
ture, and were placed promiscuously upon my table. 
The members of the class were left at liberty to seek 
for the answers at any source, and these were not 
required to be in their own language. They might be, 
and often were, obtained, I found, by the aid of parents 
or other friends at home. And, in this way, as the 
questions were often of a practical, heart-searching 
character, I soon discovered that thoughtfulness was 
awakened in the heads of the family. After the open- 
ing exercises, the answers were taken up seriatim, 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 173 

beginning with number one, and (the questions being 
cited from my book) were read to the class ; being 
corrected, if erroneous, and enlarged upon, if deficient. 
These answers, with my corrections, additions, com- 
ments, and a few concluding practical remarks, usually 
constituted a full lecture upon the lesson, and one 
which was of engrossing interest, as all had some 
hand in its composition ; and was seldom wanting in 
evidence of its good effects. Some of the questions 
were so formed as to constitute a direct appeal to the 
individual heart and conscience ; and, being pondered 
in private, with a view to returning a proper answer, 
were not unfrequently fastened upon the mind, like a 
"nail in a sure place." Most of my candidates for 
confirmation were from my Bible class. 

3. The "influence of our ministry" may, I think, 
be made to " reach the multitudes now living without 
the Gospel in our land and neighbourhood," as readily 
as that of any other ministry, if the clergy will con- 
sider seriously, and endeavour faithfully to fulfil, the 
duties of the " weighty office and charge" to which 
they are called; that is to say, to be "Messengers," 
and "Watchmen," and " Stewards of the Lord ; " not 
only " to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide 
for the Lord's family," but to " seek for Christ's sheep 
that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who 
are in the midst of this naughty world." In perform- 
ing this latter duty, under a just sense of their 
responsibility as "Messengers," as "Watchmen," as 
" Stewards of the Lord," they would not confine their 

15* 



174 The Memorial Papers. 

out-of-door labours to an occasional visiting of such 
families only as were known and recognised as pew- 
holders, or regular worshippers in their own respect- 
ive churches, but would be diligent in going from 
house to house, and from neighbourhood to neighbour- 
hood, in search of the careless, the indifferent, the 
impenitent ; seeking their acquaintance, administering 
to their necessities, acquiring their respect and confi- 
dence ; and, by these means, if really in earnest in 
their Master's work, carrying the Gospel to many, 
very many, who may now be regarded as living with- 
out it, and who have reason to say " no man cares for 
my soul." For the further benefit of such, they 
might appoint some evening in every week, in the 
several neighbourhoods, for prayers and a lecture or 
sermon, at some private house ; and, if the unhappy 
pew system should not interpose an insuperable obsta- 
cle, open their churches for their exclusive use on 
some part of every Sunday. Much, very much, might 
be done in this way, by every clergyman, towards 
bringing his influence to bear upon the masses, and 
that without any very heavy increase of his labours. 
Indeed, I am persuaded that, after some little practice, 
he would find it not burdensome, but a source of de- 
lightful recreation. Besides, he might, by judicious 
management, derive much assistance from the pious 
laymen and women of his congregation 

4. If by "itinerating Evangelists," be meant cler- 
gymen who should claim the right of extending their 
labours everyivhere, and going in and out within 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 175 

the bounds of the parochial clergy, I should say 
decidedly not. Such " Evangelists" would soon come 
to regard themselves as a sort of archdeacon ; having 
the right to dictate to, and interfere with, the settled 
clergy. If ordinary itinerating clergymen be referred 
to, we have them already. Most of our Missionaries 
are itinerants, and there is nothing to prevent the 
increase of that class to any extent. Doubtless there 
would be an advantage in having general missionaries 
employed in every Diocese, whose dutj^ it should be to 
carry the Gospel under the direction of the Bishop, to 
such parts of the Diocese as were not occupied by 
parishes and settled ministers ; but this must be left 
to Diocesan regulation. I cannot conceive of the 
General Convention making any movement in that 
direction, without the danger of interfering materially 
with Diocesan rights. 

13. I doubt whether any " specific means" for 
increasing adequately the pecuniary contributions of 
Churchmen," can be devised, which would be likely to 
be generally adopted. A means which might be very 
well adapted to the circumstances and habits of one 
portion of the community, might be wholly unsuited 
to those of another. 

There is very little reason to doubt that our people 
are not sufficiently instructed on "the dangers and 
responsibilities involved in the possession of property," 
as well as on the Christian duty of contributing of 
their substance in proportion to their ability. I have 



176 The Memorial Papers. 

always held that the fault of the niggardliness, so often 
complained of in the Church, is chargeable mainly 
on the clergy : first, upon the Bishops, who ought, in 
my judgment, not only to bring the subject more fre- 
quently before the people in their sermons and pasto- 
ral letters, but also to enjoin it upon the clergy under 
their charge, as a solemn and indispensable duty, to 
give as regular and systematic instruction to their con- 
gregations upon this subject as they do upon any other 
Christian obligation ; and, secondly, upon the clergy 
themselves, who ought not to wait to have the subject 
urged upon them by their superiors in office, but 
should feel themselves called on by the solemn responsi- 
bilities of their own office, as ambassadors for Christ, 
to present it to the people of their charge, as of indis- 
pensable obligation, and as almost as necessary to the 
completeness of their Christian character as the exer- 
cise of Faith and Hope and Charity. I am persuaded 
that our people, if as faithfully instructed, would be 
found as ready to impart of their worldly substance 
for the spread of the Gospel, both at home and abroad, 
as the people of those communions who now contribute 
thousands, when ours grudgingly contribute hundreds. 
And why should it not be so ? Are we willing to con- 
fess that our people are wanting in Christian piety — 
are not really converted — are in a state of semi-hea- 
thenism ? But if constrained to make this confession, 
then it requires no Solomon to discern where the fault 
lies. 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 177 

Division II. 

Question 1. Though opposed, from the beginning, 
to mooting the questions involved in the Memorial 
now before the Committee, I am free to confess that 
some "changes" might "be advantageously made in 
our Liturgical services. " 

(a.) Not, however, by "lengthening," or by "short- 
ening," — for I would never consent to touch, in the 
minutest particular, the integrity of the Liturgy, — but 
by " dividing," or rather authorizing, where it should 
be deemed expedient, a division or separation of those 
parts which were doubtless, originally, distinct ser- 
vices ; such as the Morning Prayer, the Litany, and 
the Communion office ; but which are now commonly, 
and by prescription, used as one continuous service. 
But this I should consent to only on the condition 
that all should be used on the same morning) though 
at different hours. The most natural division, and the 
most convenient, would be to allow the Morning Prayer 
alone to be used at a first service on the Sundays and 
other holy days, and the Litany (on Litany Days) 
with what is called the Ante-Communion service, fol- 
lowed by the sermon at a second. But this division 
has been deemed by many, already, admissible ; and 
has, in some Churches, been statedly (on Communion 
Sundays, I believe) observed. If express authority 
for it be desirable, it might be given by the amend- 
ment of an existing Canon (XLV., of 1832,) without 
disturbing the Rubrics ; as might be done for some 



178 The Memorial Papers. 

other changes, such as allowing the Holy Communion 
to be administered in the evening, or at night, and 
prescribing a second evening service. I see nothing 
to prevent the Canon referred to from being so altered 
and amended as to cover the whole ground of such 
changes as are, in my judgment, at all desirable, or 
ought to be deemed admissible. 

(b.) I should be sorry to see any attempt made at 
alteration under this head ; for, although one or tw T o 
changes might be desirable, who can foresee the result 
of opening the subject to the operation of so great a 
number of differing minds, and tastes, and judgments 
as would be intensely engaged upon it. And I must 
say that I know of no such glaring want of adapt- 
iveness in the Lessons and Anthems as to call for so 
grave an undertaking as that which is referred to. 

(c.) I do not exactly know what is referred to in the 
expression, "a larger number of special services." I 
have perceived no imperious necessity for adopting any 
further special services than we have — if indeed we have 
any. The number of prayers for " special occasions" 
might, doubtless, be increased to advantage, provided 
there could be assurance that they would be framed to 
accord strictly w r ith the general spirit and style of the 
Liturgy. But I should be sorry to see any added to our 
present number partaking of the character of ordinary 
impassioned extempore prayer, which, I much fear, 
would be the result of any attempt in this direction. 

(d.) If by the expression " a larger discretion in 
the use of hymns," be meant a license to each minis- 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 179 

ter to select them from any source other than the 
Prayer Book, I say no decidedly. By " other sacred 
music" I suppose must be meant anthems, &c, with 
words not contained in the Prayer Book, and to this 
I could not assent. And as to an increase of the 
number of hymns to be selected and allowed to be 
sung, I think we have had enough of experimenting 
in that line. Every attempt to improve our Psalmody 
or Hymnology has, according to my judgment and 
taste, proved little else than a failure. 

(e.) I do not think them needed. A wise discretion 
in the use of the Prayer Book, if not already allow- 
able, as I think, might be granted to Missionaries 
both at home and abroad ; and this might be provided 
for in the Canon already referred to. 

(f.) The " authorities of each Diocese" have already 
all the " liberty" that I consider desirable or proper. 

2. I think so decidedly. A departure from the 
present rule would, unquestionably, to my mind, work 
only confusion, especially in regard to the intercourse 
and interchange between the Dioceses. 

3. By no means. (a.) The term of time now 
required (six months) is abundantly short. Indeed it 
would be well, if any change were made, that it 
should be extended to a year. Consider how much 
there is to wnlearn, as well as to learn, on the part 
of most of those who have been ministers of other 
denominations. It seems to me that to be efficient as 
a minister of the Church, it is necessary that one 
should fully comprehend and imbibe the system of the 



180 The Memorial Papers. 

Church ; and this does not come to many minds by 
intuition. 

(b.) In this respect there should be no relaxation 
whatever. An ordained minister of the Church, not 
bound to conformity to the " worship, discipline, &c," 
of the Church ! How could it have entered into the 
mind of man to conceive of such a thing ? And to 
impart holy orders to one who is not of the Church, 
and is not to be amenable to her authority, what is 
gained to the cause of truth and of Christ? Is 
heresy, is error of any sort, to be cured by the impo- 
sition of the Bishop's hands, by conveying Apostolic 
authority to minister in the name of Christ ? And 
suppose the candidate to hold, and bind himself to 
teach the fundamental articles of the Christian faith, 
as set forth in the creeds ; what security have you for 
his continuance in that faith ? He owes no obedience 
to the Church, and cannot be controlled by her. 
With him the creeds may, as has been the case with 
some professedly Christian bodies, become a dead letter, 
especially as he is freed from the restraint imposed 
by their daily public repetition, as well as from the 
conservative influence of the daily Liturgy. It has 
been our boast that, under God, the possession and 
the constant use of our orthodox Liturgy has been the 
great safeguard of the Church against apostasy from 
the faith once delivered to the saints. And shall 
we venture to authorize, by solemn ordination, any 
man or body of men to act as ministers of Christ, 
without those salutary restraints, those indispensable 
safeguards ? I hope never. 






Bishop Freeman's Communication. 181 

4. 1 know no facts which " indicate a preference 
on the part of ministers of other Protestant bodies 
for Episcopal ordination, if it were in their power/' 
they meaning to continue in their present relations. 
On the contrary, the usual indications are of a con- 
tempt for what we call Apostolic ordination and 
authority, and an entire satisfaction w^ith their own 
orders and authority. And I have reason to believe 
that, were we to offer them the privilege, they would, 
in the great majority of instances, laugh us to scorn. 

5. This question is answered substantially in the 
reply to the fourth above. From no facts known to 
me should I infer a disposition on the part of mem- 
bers of such bodies to " make sacrifices of sectarian 
feeling for the sake of restoring unity." On the 
contrary, I am led to believe that very few among 
them would set any value on that unity which did 
not consist in all others conforming to and uniting 
with them. There may, possibly, be here and there 
an individual of another mind, but I have not been so 
fortunate as to meet with one. 

I have ever observed that, when once convinced of 
the importance and necessity of Episcopal ordination 
to a valid ministry, ministers of other " denomina- 
tions" apply at once for orders in the Church. And 
I have no reason to believe that any one so convinced 
has felt any hesitation in binding himself to conform- 
ity to her worship and discipline. Indeed, it is my 
opinion, that the strongest attraction to the Church, 
on the part of the reflecting among such ministers, is 

18 



182 The Memorial Papers. 

our inimitable Liturgy ; and that no one who valued, 
Episcopal ordination has ever been deterred from 
applying for it at our hands, by a disrelish for that 
Liturgy, or a repugnance to being bound by the 
restrictions which it imposes. 

In regard to what I have said in reference to pro- 
viding for the changes which may be desirable in our 
Liturgical services, by means of the amendment of 
our existing Canon, without touching even the Rubrics 
of the Prayer Book, I have a few remarks to make. 

In the first place, such canonical provision would 
not, so far as I can see, contradict, contravene, or in 
any way interfere with existing Rubrics. Nor would 
it be equivalent to the enactment of new or additional 
Rubrics, any more than was the introduction of the 
Canon as it now stands (XLV., 1832). The sub- 
stance of that Canon might with propriety perhaps 
have been adopted at the revision and ratification of 
the Prayer Book by the General Convention in 1789, 
as a Rubric But it was not so adopted. It was, 
indeed, an afterthought. The Book of Common 
Prayer was set forth as containing the liturgical wor- 
ship of the Church ; but it did not include a positive 
injunction of its exclusive use ; and, therefore, some 
clergymen thought they were at liberty to abridge it 
according to their judgment of the expediency, or, 
upon occasion, to lay it aside altogether and substi- 
tute extempore prayer. To prevent the growth of this 
evil, and to fix the general practice, the Canon referred 
to was passed by the General Convention, by which 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 183 

" every minister" is required to "use the Book of 
Common Prayer, as the same is or may be established 
by the authority of the General Convention," " before 
all sermons and lectures, an 1 on all other occasions 
of public worship." And this Canon has been acqui- 
esced in and obeyed, as the law of the Church, as 
strictly as if it had been inserted in the book itself, 
in the form of a Rubric. And no objection has been 
made to it on the ground of its interfering, either 
with the Rubrics or with any supposed liberty allowed 
by the absence in the book of any such injunction. 
And yet it is a Canon " Of the use of the Book of 
Common Prayer ;" and such would still be its title, as 
well as its nature and purport, should it be amended 
so as to authorize all the changes in the use of that 
book, which I have referred to as being desirable and 
proper ; and all, I hope, that the Committee will 
agree to recommend, or the General Convention see 
fit to adopt. 

To make this obvious, I will sketch such an amend- 
ment of the Canon as I think would cover the ground 
of my concessions, and such a one as, if I live and 
need shall require, I may in substance propose for 
adoption at the next General Convention. 

OF THE USE OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 

Section 1. Every minister shall, before all sermons 
and lectures, and on all other occasions of public 
worship, use the Book of Common Prayer, as the same 
is or may be established by the authority of the 



184 The Memorial Papers. 

General Convention of this Church. And on no 
occasions of public worship shall any other Prayers be 
used than those prescribed by the said book. 

Section 2. In using the Book of Common Prayer, 
as required in the foregoing section, it shall be law- 
ful for any minister, with the approval of his Bishop, 
to use the order for Daily Morning Prayer, separately 
from the Litany and the Communion Service ; provided, 
that the two latter shall always, on the Sundays and 
other holy days, be used as a second morning service, 
w T hether there be or be not a sermon or lecture ; 
except when the Communion is to be administered in 
the evening or at night of the same day, as is provided 
for in the section following. 

Section 3. Upon occasions when need shall so 
require, the Holy Communion may be administered 
in the evening or at night ; and then shall that part 
of the Communion Service, appointed to follow the 
sermon, be used after the Evening Service. And 
when the Communion Service is to be administered 
at a second Morning Service, the whole of the Com- 
munion Service, having been omitted in the morning, 
may be used to the exclusion of all other services. 

Section 4. When there shall be occasion for a 
second Evening Service without the Communion, then 
it shall be lawful for the minister, commencing with 
one or more of the sentences of Holy Scripture, to 
omit the exhortation and the confession, and to pro- 
ceed with the Lord's Prayer and the following respon- 
sive sentences. Then shall follow a portion of the 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 185 

Psalms selected by himself from the Psalter; after 
which shall be read a Lesson selected either from the 
Old or the New Testament, at the discretion of the 
minister ; then shall be said the Deus Misereatus or 
the Benedic anima mea ; the Creed; the following 
responsive prayers ; the collect for the day ; the 
collect for peace ; the collect for aid against perils ; 
the prayer of the whole state of Christ's Church 
Militant, or the last prayer in the Institution office ; 
concluding with any suitable collect or collects from 
the Book of Common Prayer and the lesser benedic- 
tion. 

Section 5. All missionaries and other ministers of 
this Church, who shall be engaged in propagating the 
Gospel among the heathen, or in places or countries 
where there are no settled established congregations of 
worshippers connected with this Church, or where the 
services of the Church are unknown or unaccustomed, 
shall be at liberty to omit such parts of the order for 
daily Morning and Evening Prayer as the necessities 
of the case may seem to require, exercising therein a 
sound discretion, but using no other Prayers than 
those contained in the Prayer Book : provided, that 
when they shall officiate in organized parishes, or in 
congregations accustomed to the use of the Prayer 
Book, they shall be governed by the same rules as 
other ministers of this Church. 

It will be seen that, while the provisions of the 
above suggested amendment to the Canon, cover all 
16 * 



186 The Memorial Papers. 

the changes in the service that seem to be most 
strenuously insisted on, they relate to matters con- 
cerning which some degree of liberty is already 
claimed, and, by no inconsiderable number, actually 
exercised. The separation of the three distinct ser- 
vices connected with the morning worship on Sun- 
days, has often been made, and no voice, so far as I 
have heard, has been raised against it. Indeed there 
is nothing but general usage that can be alleged in 
opposition to it. The right to administer the Holy 
Communion in the evening is certainly not forbidden, 
and, I believe, has often been exercised. The use of 
a second Evening Service, not very different from that 
w T hich is allowed above, has been quite common, if not 
universal, in the American Church, and was allowed 
and recommended by the late Bishop Hobart. The 
discretion in the use of the daily Morning and Even- 
ing Prayer, allowed, as above, to Missionaries and 
other ministers officiating where responsive services 
are impracticable, has been, of necessity, a thousand 
times exercised. The consideration of these things 
will show that the way of providing for the changes 
desired, by Canon and not by Rubrics, is the natural 
and legitimate one. And this way is recommended, 
above all others, by the considerations, that the 
Prayer Book is left intact, and that the desired 
changes may be adopted without the delay of three 
years from the next General Convention, which must 
ensue if any change in the Prayer Book, even of a 
Rubric, should be adopted. 



Bishop Freeman's Communication. 187 

In conclusion, I would respectfully ask, if this is a 
time, when parties in the Church are arrayed in bitter 
hostility to each other ; when there is so much differ- 
ence of opinion upon important points of doctrine, 
that the Bishops and other ministers cannot be 
brought to agree in the support and patronage of one 
Theological Seminary, of one Sunday School Union, 
of one plan of Missions, of one Tract or Book Society ; 
when one part denies all claim to an Evangelical, that 
is a Gospel character, to all who do not agree with 
them in every particular of an interpretation of the 
formularies and standards of the Church, and the 
other party denies to the former any just right to the 
name of Churchman, the one party charging those who 
differ from them with concealed Romanism, the other 
charging their contemners with being Presbyterians 
or Puritans in disguise ; is this a time to venture upon 
touching the integrity of the Prayer Book in any way 
whatever? When men cannot be " of one mind in a 
house,' ' respecting matters that vitally concern its 
welfare, is it a time to set about remodelling that 
house and changing its character and accommoda- 
tions ? or is it at all likely that they could agree upon 
such changes as would constitute a permanent im- 
provement? I trust, and I believe, that the Com- 
mittee will consider well their position ; and, not 
catching the spirit of progress for which this age is so 
remarkable, be inclined to adopt moderate and con- 
servative counsels. 

Geo. W. Freeman. 



BISHOP UPFOLD'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Committee of the House of Bishops of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, appointed to consider the Memorial of 
the Rev, Dr. Muhlenberg, and other Presbyters. 

Right Reverend Brethren : — 

A Circular from the Reverend Secretary of your 
Committee, containing a series of interrogatories, 
growing out of the Memorial submitted to your con- 
sideration, has been sent to me ; and I avail myself 
of a few leisure hours to reply to some of the more 
important. 

The Memorial, in its suggestions and proposals, so 
far as these can be discerned with any definiteness 
amid its somewhat cloudy generalization, appears to be 
based on the assumption that "the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, with only her present canonical means 
and appliances, her fixed and invariable modes of 
public worship, and her traditional customs and usages, 
is not competent to the work of preaching and dis- 
pensing the Gospel to all sorts and conditions of men, 

(188) 






Bishop Upf old's Communication. 189 

and so is inadequate to do the work of the Lord in this 
land and age." This is a sweeping and astounding 
assertion : her worst enemies could not have said a 
worse thing of the Church ; and, if it be true, involves 
a cogent argument for at once abandoning a Church so 
radically and essentially defective in its organization 
and working agencies, instead of attempting to patch 
it up, as the Memorial proposes, though it does not 
intimate with any clearness how the patching up is to 
be done. But I hold it to be untrue and incapable of 
proof ; a mere gratuitous assumption, founded on an 
erroneous ideal of the Church, and her mission, min- 
gled with very contracted views of her actual working 
and progress in this " land and age." The growth of the 
Church, considering the obstacles she has had to encoun- 
ter, from political prejudice and jealousy, and from the 
strong cherished prejudices and calumnious misrepre- 
sentations of the various phases of dissent, all com- 
bined against her, is a full and sufficient answer to 
this gratuitous and condemnatory assumption. And 
this growth has been the greatest and most manifest 
in those portions of the Church in which " her present 
canonical means and appliances, her fixed and inva- 
riable modes of public worship, and her traditional 
customs and usages," have been most strictly observed. 
Where they have been lightly regarded, loosely 
observed, or departed from to any extent ; where 
irregularities have been practised, tolerated, and 
encouraged; where an attempt has been made practi- 
cally to ignore her usages, and accommodate them to 



190 The Memorial Papers. 

those which prevail without her pale, there has not 
been the same growth, but quite the reverse. This is 
evident from the statistics of the progress of the 
Church, in the Journals of the General and Diocesan 
Conventions, from her first independent organization 
in this country after the American Revolution, and 
especially for the last twenty-five or thirty years. 

But w T hile I regard the Memorial as based upon a 
gratuitous assumption, incapable of proof, and for 
that reason uncalled for, I am far from regarding our 
Ecclesiastical organization and working instrumentali- 
ties as perfect, and unsusceptible of any improvement. 
And what my views as to such improvement are, will 
be developed in the answers I proceed to give to some 
of the interrogatories contained in the Circular from 
the Reverend Secretary of your Committee. 

I. " Can the present method of preparing young 
men for the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church be improved, in respect to learning, piety, 
intellectual power, or practical efficiency?" 

My reply to this interrogatory will touch only the 
point of practical efficiency. In this I am decidedly 
of the opinion there is both room for and need of 
great improvement, particularly in the manner and 
matter of preaching, and in the manner of performing 
the service of the Church, as set forth in the Book of 
Common Prayer. 

Generally speaking, our Clergy, the younger ones 
and they who have received their education in our 
Theological Seminaries, do not preach ; they only read, 






Bishop Upfold's Communication. 191 

and that very badly. The subject-matter of their dis- 
courses, moreover, so far as I have had an opportunity 
of hearing and observing — and that opportunity has 
not been limited — are usually of a nature uninterest- 
ing to, and above the comprehension of, ordinary hear- 
ers ; are composed too much in the essay style ; and 
are unpractical, "with little or no direct personal appli- 
cation to the heart and the conscience. They are, 
besides, frequently vague, rambling, vapid, consisting 
of crude generalities and common-place remarks, and 
display an almost entire ignorance of the movements 
and promptings of the human heart, and of the com- 
mon motives of thought and action which prevail 
among the mass of mankind. These harangues, read 
in a dull, cold, prosy manner, and monotonous tone, 
and often very lengthy, with eyes bent close to the 
manuscript; or, if occasionally withdrawn, looking 
only at vacancy ; with no gesture, or if gesture is at- 
tempted, artificial and inexpressive ; cause the hearers 
to become weary under the infliction, fail to interest 
and edify, and lead them to prefer the preaching of 
the outsiders, who, with all their imperfections, are 
usually earnest and impassioned. 

Now I am of the opinion that, to secure greater 
practical efficiency in our ministry, more and more 
careful instruction is required in our Theological Semi- 
naries, in training the students in the art of preaching ; 
that this, instead of being a secondary, should be a 
primary branch of education ; that they should be 
thoroughly drilled in this respect, their defects pointed 



192 The Memorial Papers. 

out and corrected, and this drilling should begin with 
their entrance on a theological course, and be continued 
throughout the course ; that one day in every week 
should be set apart for this especial purpose ; and that 
incurable deficiency should be a bar to any further 
progress toward the ministry. I would also haye 
extemporaneous preaching more generally cultivated. 
Or, if the gift of extemporaneous utterance is want- 
ing, and, as is sometimes the case, unsusceptible of 
cultivation, then I would take the next best mode, of 
memoriter preaching. At any rate, I would have the 
preacher so familiar with his written discourse, by 
repeated reading thereof in private, that in its public 
delivery he need only glance at it occasionally, and 
be enabled to look his auditors in the face, and preach 
with his eye as well as with his voice. The people of 
this "land and age" are almost universally accustomed 
to this method of public speaking ; they expect it, they 
like it, they weary of its opposite ; and, to commend 
our Church to the confidence and affections of the 
mass, particularly in the West and South-west, we 
must adopt it, or at least approximate thereto. 

And, as to the matter, greater efficiency would, I 
am confident, be secured by expository preaching, as 
a general rule, and by the disuse of the didactic and 
essay style. By this I do not mean entering into a 
critical interpretation of a passage of Scripture, but 
eliminating its doctrinal and preceptive truths ; setting 
them forth clearly, and applying them in the way of 
practical personal appeal. In this respect, our clergy 



Bishop Upfold's Communication. 193 

have a manifest advantage over others, if they are 
disposed to avail themselves of it, in following the 
Bitual Year of the Church in the selection of subjects, 
taking their theme from the Lessons of Holy Scrip- 
ture, or from the Epistles and Gospels. These afford 
a constant variety of most interesting topics, instruct- 
ive, edifying, and eminently practical ; and if treated 
practically, calculated to interest and secure the atten- 
tion of the hearers, from the fact that they have been 
previously presented to their thoughts in the Lessons 
of Scripture previously read. 

Preaching, then, and not reading, and as much as 
possible extemporaneous or memoriter preaching, at 
least such familiarity with a written discourse that it 
may he preached, and not merely read; and with this, 
popular and practical themes, adapted to the capaci- 
ties and spiritual exigencies of ordinary hearers, is, in 
my judgment, necessary to greater practical efficiency 
in our ministry, and would commend our clergy to 
more general acceptance with the great mass of the 
community. 

The preceding remarks are applicable also to the 
manner of celebrating divine service. There is a 
serious and very general defect in this particular. 
Our clergy, generally speaking, are not good readers 
of the Liturgy, and mar its beauty and impressive- 
ness sadly by lad reading. There is, among other 
things, little attention given to emphasis ; and when 
attention is given to it, there is much apparent misap- 
prehension as to proper emphasis. But most frequently 
17 



194 The Memorial Papers. 

the service is read in a careless and hurried manner, 
or else slow and drawling, in a dull, monotonous tone. 
There is apparently a want of appreciation of the 
sentiments uttered, an absence of devotional feeling, 
a deficiency of earnestness ; and, if there is correct- 
ness of enunciation, there is with this a failure in ani- 
mation. The entire service, Lessons and all, are 
read in the same tone, without discriminating between 
confession, supplication, thanksgiving, and the didac- 
tic portions. Now this, far more than the length, or 
the construction, of our Liturgy, causes it to be 
wearisome to those who are unaccustomed to it, and 
to some extent to those who are habituated to it. Be- 
fore they who are unaccustomed to our mode of wor- 
ship can be brought to relish its excellence, they must 
be made to feel its impressiveness. And this they w T ill 
not do, if the service, as is too much the case, is read 
in a dull, droning, humdrum tone, or hurried over in 
a careless way. The manner of the reader must be 
earnest and impassioned ; he must not merely read, 
but pray the prayers ; enter into the spirit of the 
several parts of the service ; and make them, so to 
speak, manifestly his oivn devout utterances, in order to 
commend our Common Prayer to the acceptance of 
the mass of the people, and prepare them to appreciate 
its value, feel its edifying influence, and realize its 
excellence as " the worship of God in the beauty of 
holiness." I would, therefore, respectfully suggest 
that especial attention be paid in the training of our 
candidates for Holy orders, in this important function 



Bishop Upf old's Communication. 195 

of the ministerial office. And for effecting this object, 
that a teacher of elocution be employed in our several 
Theological Seminaries, and a portion of the time of 
the students be devoted to this important accomplish- 
ment. The manner of reading our Liturgy makes all 
the difference in the world in creating a taste for it 
with those who have been accustomed to other prevail- 
ing modes of worship, while it deepens the interest 
and enhances the edification of those who are habitu- 
ated to its use. If we would secure the greater effi- 
ciency of our clergy, we must pay attention to making 
them good readers; natural, emphatic, earnest, im- 
passioned readers of our intrinsically beautiful, expres- 
sive, devotional, and edifying form of public worship. 

II. " What mode of instruction besides sermons 
from the pulpit, have you found specially beneficial 
and effective ? " 

I regard catechetical instruction as an important 
instrument for the more effective edification of the 
people in the principles of our most holy faith. And 
by this I mean public catechizing of the young in the 
presence of the congregation. This may be made 
interesting and eminently instructive to both young 
and old, provided it be properly conducted. The plan 
which I deem best, is to make catechizing a regular 
exercise for the afternoon of every Lord's Day — an 
exposition of the Catechism being substituted for the 
usual sermon. And I would not confine the exercise 
to the questions and answers of the Church Catechism 
only, but would expand it into general instruction in 



196 The Memorial Papers. 

the doctrines of the Church, and reasons for the hope 
that is in us, with arguments and answers to objec- 
tions. All this, however, in a familiar w T ay, adapted to 
the capacities of the instructed. There are some admi- 
rable models of catechetical lecturing among the works 
of the old divines of our Mother Church, and among 
these, Home's Exposition of the Church Catechism, 
with his extended practical Lectures on the Liturgy. 
In connexion with this, I regard the personal super- 
vision of our Sunday Schools by the pastor — the mak- 
ing of it his especial care, and the not leaving it 
almost entirely to lay teachers, often sadly needing to 
be taught themselves — as an effective means of edifi- 
cation. And I would confine the exercises of the 
Sunday School to religious instruction entirely, teach- 
ing the principles of religion orally, in a simple fami- 
liar way, to those w T ho cannot read, and dispensing 
altogether w T ith secular school exercises, such as teach- 
ing the alphabet and spelling. And to this, I would 
add, Bible classes for the teachers, and the more 
advanced and older pupils. 

Preaching from house to house ; constant and sys- 
tematic parochial visiting, with a view to edification, 
and not in a mere formal complimentary manner, 
would, in my judgment, materially increase the useful- 
ness of our clergy, and serve, as much as almost any- 
thing else, to attach our people to the Church from 
right principle, and not as mere matter of taste or 
convenience. Seeking out the poor and needy, and 
mingling instruction in religious truth with ministering 



Bishop Upfold's Communication. 197 

to their temporal necessities, especially devoting atten- 
tion to the sick and the afflicted ; friendly intercourse 
with the people, having these ends in view, would con- 
stitute an effective instrumentality for good, and would 
eminently aid in commending the Church to popular 
acceptance. 

III. " How can the influence of our ministry be made 
to reach the multitudes now living without the Grospel 
in our land and neighbourhood, $c. ? " 

To this I answer, let our Deacons, or a portion of 
them, be carefully trained to this work of preaching 
the Gospel to the poor, under the immediate supervi- 
sion of the rectors of parishes, and employ at least 
the canonical period of the Diaconate, three years, in 
this sort of labour. Let them go among the poor, 
preach to them conversationally, and endeavour to 
assemble neighbours together in their own houses, for 
worship and instruction. Let cheap, unexpensive, 
plain churches be erected in given districts, and a 
general Church Building Fund be raised to defray the 
expense. Let the poor be invited to worship in these 
Churches, at free cost, except such contributions as 
they may be able from time to time to make, in the 
Sunday collection, which I would have a common 
usage on every occasion of public worship. Let a 
general fund be provided also for the maintenance of 
those ministers to the poor, and apportioned by the 
Ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese. Of the mode 
of raising the general funds suggested, I will speak 
under another interrogatory head. 
17* 



198 The Memorial Papers. 

IV. " Do the laymen and layivomen of our congre- 
gation co-operate efficiently with the pastor in the work 
of winning souls? How can that co-operation be 
increased, $c, $c?" 

This is an inquiry I find it difficult to answer, from 
the want of sufficient information. I am under the 
impression they do not. But as our Church is situated 
in this country, exclusively under the voluntary sys- 
tem, with a very limited ecclesiastical control, I do 
not clearly perceive how a remedy is to be provided. 
The personal influence of the pastor is the only reliable 
power in this case. District visiting, and weekly 
meetings of district visiters, would be a social organi- 
zation of the parishioners, which would be beneficial 
in promoting the co-operation contemplated. Sewing 
circles, in small parishes, at which, in the evening, 
the pastor, with the male members of the parish, 
attend, I have known to be instrumental in increasing 
social intercourse in parishes, and bringing different 
classes and conditions into contact, with a view to 
increased co-operation in works of charity and mercy. 
The appointment of monthly committees for visiting 
and nursing the sick, it has occurred to me, might be 
a useful parochial agency. 

V. " By what specific means can we increase ade- 
quately the pecuniary contributions of Churchmen, to 
the work of evangelizing our own land and the world 
at large V 

In reference to our own land, I think the contribu- 
tions of Churchmen might be materially and perma- 



Bishop Upfold's Communication. 199 

nently increased, by adopting the practice of one 
class of outsiders, the Methodists, in their admirable 
fiscal arrangements. It is the instituting of a collec- 
tion, once at least every Sunday, in every congrega- 
tion. The amount collected at a given time in many, 
perhaps in most, would be inconsiderable; but the 
annual aggregate would be very large — I had almost 
said, enormous. Suppose a weekly average of $3 in 
one thousand congregations, the aggregate sum per 
annum would be §156,000. Suppose it to be $5 per 
week, the annual aggregate would be §260,000. Now 
of this latter sum deduct one-third, §86,666 and a 
fraction, and appropriate it as a general fund for 
cheap church-building, and there would be §163,332, 
or thereabouts, an annual general fund for the sup- 
port of a ministry to preach the Gospel to the poor in 
our large cities and in other destitute places ; which 
at a salary of §800 per annum would enable the 
Church to employ some two hundred clergymen, 
trained to this specific work. I would have other 
contributions, in the shape of pew rents, special mis- 
sionary and other collections, go on as heretofore. 
The weekly collection I would have made general, by 
a Canon of the General Convention. And the amount 
collected I would have paid over monthly to the 
Treasurer of the General Convention, or the Trustees 
associated with him — and have the Bishops of the 
several Dioceses send in an annual estimate of the 
sum required for their respective Dioceses, and the 
Treasurer or Trustees apportion the same according 



200 The Memorial Papers. 

to funds on hand and the estimated wants of the 
Diocese, and pay it quarterly to the Missionaries or 
clergy employed, in the order of their Dioceses. The 
fund for church-building, I would have employed as a 
loan to congregations desiring to erect a church, with- 
out interest — the vestry of each congregation being 
pledged to begin, on the receipt of the sum loaned, a 
sinking fund for its ultimate liquidation, by special 
collections monthly or quarterly. This is a mere out- 
line of a plan which has suggested itself to my mind, 
for increasing the contributions of Churchmen, and 
providing specially for Church accommodation, free 
Church accommodation, and the support of a ministry 
for the poor, the middling classes, the general mass 
of the community. If I am not deceived in my 
arithmetic, the previous statement of results would 
meet all our immediate wants in the premises. The 
average I have adopted is the result of experience in 
three parishes of my own Diocese, in which the weekly 
collection for Church purposes has been introduced. 
We have heretofore, it appears to me, grasped too 
much at nuggets from given men and in given con- 
gregations, while we have neglected to gather the 
grains from the Church generally. We have aimed 
at great things and neglected little things, in our 
endeavours to obtain contributions from our people. 

VI. " Could changes he advantageously made in 
our Liturgical services V 

I think no changes could be advantageously made, 
and none required, with one exception to be men- 



Bishop Upfold's Communication. 201 

tioned in the sequel : and I should seriously deprecate 
the attempt, either in the way of positive alteration 
of the substance, or the arrangement, or in abridg- 
ment, or in canonical permission to abbreviate, omit, 
adapt, or substitute, at the discretion of the officiating 
minister. That our Liturgical services, in their pre- 
sent form, do not constitute any material hindrance 
to the growth of the Church and its adaptation and 
acceptability with the mass of the people, seems to 
me evident, from the well ascertained fact, that that 
growth is, and manifestly has been, greatest, in those 
portions of the Church, in which those services are 
used in their integrity, without mutilation or abridg- 
ment. The community at large, it is true, are 
accustomed to a different and theoretically less re- 
strained mode of worship : but is that a good reason 
for changing or assimilating; our mode to theirs ? The 
prevalent mode of worship in this country, among the 
outsiders who have to a large extent pre-occupied the 
ground, is manifestly an innovation on Apostolic and 
primitive usage, without any intrinsic feature to recom- 
mend it, and give it superiority over ours. Its im- 
perfections and disadvantages, and they are many 
and great, are beginning to be felt by those who have 
heretofore been most strenuous in its advocacy, and 
most bitterly prejudiced against a prescribed form of 
prayer, even to the disuse of the Lord's Prayer. 
They are beginning to perceive the necessity of pre- 
composed forms ; and many of them are advocating 
the use of a Liturgy in public worship, and giving 



202 The Memorial Pa pees. 

weighty reasons therefor. Would it be wise in us, to 
say nothing of other considerations, to change or 
adapt our time-honoured Liturgical services, so as to 
approximate nearer to the objectionable mode of 
worship of these outsiders, just when they are per- 
ceiving the defects of extemporaneous services, and 
recommending a change to a mode more restricted 
and permanent ? Rather is it not part of the Church's 
mission, at this crisis, to hold fast more steadfastly 
than ever to her form of sound words, and, by the 
influence of our example, endeavour to create a better 
taste, and bring back the community to a purer and 
more primitive mode of worship than that to which 
they are accustomed ? The Liturgy of the Church is, 
moreover, a very important medium of the teaching 
of the Church — and the conservator of her doctrines, 
and of the " faith once delivered unto the saints." 
While we lift up our voices in praise and prayer, in 
her admirable forms of devotion, we are indoctrinated 
in the principles of our holy religion ; and as we 
praise or pray, we learn "the truth as it is in Jesus." 
Thus the Liturgy is the conservative element in our 
ecclesiastical organization, and our edifying teacher; 
the element which preserves the faith we have re- 
ceived from Apostles and Martyrs, and find confirmed 
in our Bibles, in its integrity and purity, free from 
any admixture of error or heresy. Any change, 
any allowance of change in our Liturgical services, 
would abridge this teaching, might seriously vitiate it. 



Bishop Upfold's Communication. 203 

and impair if not destroy the stability of our holy 
faith. 

But there is one exception, in which some little 
discretion might be allowed, not to the clergy gene- 
rally, but to the Bishops under whose supervision 
they exercise their ministry. It is to meet an exigency 
of frequent occurrence in the strictly Missionary field, 
that of the introduction of our services among those 
who are wholly unaccustomed to them. There is, to 
say the least, an embarrassment in performing the 
full responsive service under such circumstances ; and 
its edifying tendency, as well as its facilitating the 
great object of commending the Church to acceptance, 
is questionable. I would, therefore, respectfully sug- 
gest, as the result of some experience and observa- 
tion in the Missionary field, and as a temporary 
measure only, that there be discretionary authority 
canonically given to the Bishop, or ecclesiastical 
authority, to allow, in such cases, an abridgment of 
the service, or an adaptation of the service, preserving 
the principle of a precomposed form, and using only 
the prayers and hymns of praise set forth in the Book 
of Common Prayer, dispensing with responses, until 
such time as the people, by instruction and drilling, 
are made acquainted with the Liturgy, and with the 
principles on which it is framed, and it is practicable 
to perform the full service. 

The same allowance might be extended to Mission- 
ary efforts among the poor in our large cities, for the 
same reasons, and with the same limitation. 



204 The Memorial Papers. 

VII. " Should the conditions on which ministers 
are admitted to orders, be prescribed exclusively by the 
Gieneral Convention T\ 

I answer yes ; and made as stringent as possible. 
There should be no relaxation of existing provisions. 
And in order to preserve unity, the rule should extend 
over all the confederated Dioceses. There would be 
danger of very great and serious disorders, if this 
matter of admission to the ministry of the Church was 
left discretionary with every Diocese. We would 
have half-fledged clergy in some Dioceses, who would 
be seeking and finding admission into other Dioceses 
where the regulations were stricter, and confusion, 
strife, and animosity engendered. 

I do not precisely understand the bearing of this 
interrogatory. If it be to facilitate the admission of 
unlearned men to the ministry, when the Standing 
Committee of a particular Diocese may be overper- 
suaded to recommend, and the Bishop to ordain, my 
answer is as above. There should be a check on 
importunity, which is often attempted, and is some- 
times successful, even now, to the serious injury of 
the Church, and to the character of her ministry. 

VIII. " Ought the conditions now imposed on can- 
didates, who have been licensed or ordained in other 
Protestant Communions, be relaxed, $c, $-c. ?" 

By no means. I would have them increased in 
stringency ; particularly as to the extension of the 
period of probation. My reasons for this reply, are 
fully set forth in a report of the Committee on Canons 



Bishop Upfold's Communication. 205 

to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies of the 
General Convention of 1841, written by me, though 
signed by the Chairman. The opinions therein ex- 
pressed, I have seen no reason to change. They are 
my deliberate opinions now. To this report, which I 
have not time to copy, I beg leave respectfully to 
refer the Committee, as my reply to this interrogatory 
in all its branches. 

There are some other interrogatories which I have 
left unnoticed, because I do not perceive their precise 
bearing. The Committee would, perhaps, be as little 
enlightened by my answers to them, did I understand 
them, as they may probably be by the answers I have 
ventured to give to the interrogatories already noticed. 
I have only to remark, that my replies are the result 
of careful thought and clear conviction, and must go 
for what they worth. 

With great respect, and with earnest prayer that 
your deliberations may promote the best interests of 
the Church, I am, Right Reverend Brethren, 
Truly and affectionately 

Your friend and brother, 

George Upeold. 

January 13th, 1855. 



18 



BISHOP SCOTT'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Commission of the House of Bishops, Etc. 

Right Reverend Brethren : — 

It was my first intention not to attempt a reply to 
the Memorial and Questions appended, copies of which 
were received a short time since. But upon further 
reflection, it may be better to offer the few and con- 
fessedly imperfect suggestions which occur to me upon 
the general subject. I cannot take up the several 
questions propounded, nor discuss at length the points 
of the Memorial. Most of these require more of 
experience, observation, thought, and reading than 
falls to my lot. And I offer any suggestions to such 
a body, and upon such momentous questions, with 
unfeigned diffidence. 

I am disposed, at the outset, to question the assump- 
tion upon which the Memorial proceeds : " That our 
Church, confined to the exercise of her present sys- 
tem, is not sufficient for the great purposes" of uniting 

(206) 






Bishop Scott's Communication. 207 

together all faithful Christians, and " of preaching and 
dispensing the Gospel to all sorts and conditions of 
men." I do not know precisely by what process of 
reasoning this conclusion is reached. That Christen- 
dom is sadly divided, and thereby dishonoured and 
weakened, is undeniably the fact. That iniquity 
abounds in every part of the world, and that myriads 
in nominally Christian lands are destitute as well of 
the saving knowledge as of the converting power of 
the Gospel, is undeniably true. That Christians, 
either individually or collectively, have done their 
bounden duty in making known to all men " the glo- 
rious gospel of the blessed God," or in striving to 
bring them "to the obedience of faith," no one will 
affirm. But what then ? Does it follow from these 
facts that the "present system" of our Church is 
unadapted to the great ends of ecclesiastical organi- 
zation ? 

To say that our system is imperfect, is a simple 
truism. Is any other system less so ? Or were all 
existing systems combined, would that combination 
be a perfect system ? The Bible presents to the 
world a perfect system of religion, and yet infidelity 
has room to taunt us with its failure to produce its 
design — to achieve its mission. In the nature of 
things, an ecclesiastical system is general in its pro- 
visions, and is, in itself, powerless ; because it can 
reach nothing beyond the externals of religion. And 
yet the Church could not exist as an organized body 
of men without it. But if any one, whether clergy- 



208 The Memorial Papers. 

man or layman, should suppose that his duty consisted 
merely in executing the regulations of a system, how- 
ever wisely constructed, he would betray a fatal igno- 
rance as well of the first principles of religion, as of 
the design of all systems of organization. And 
herein I apprehend the present evil lies. 

For if not, then it must be alleged that there is 
something in " our present system' 7 which hinders 
the fulfilment of our mission on earth ; ^the work of 
preaching and dispensing the Gospel to all sorts and 
conditions of men." And this evidently is the gra- 
vamen of the Memorial. But can this be truly 
alleged ? Is it true with regard to our own body ? 
Who of us can say that he would have prayed more, 
and more faithfully — that he would have preached 
more, and more earnestly — that he would have gone 
out more frequently into the streets and lanes of the 
city, or the highways and hedges of the country to 
preach the Gospel to the poor — that he would more 
liberally have given of his substance to relieve the 
poor and needy, or to sustain the ministrations of 
religion at home, and send the Word of Life to all 
men — that he would more tenderly have loved all 
Christian people, and laboured to set forth quietness 
and peace among them ? Who can say he would 
have done all this if the Canons and Rubrics had not 
forbidden him ? If any man complain in this behalf, 
the Church may safely reply, " Ye are not straitened 
in us, but in your own bowels." To say nothing of 
the Bible, which is at least a part of ■" our present 



Bishop Scott's Communication. 209 

system/ ' let any one deliberately read over the 
exhortations delivered to both Priests and Bishops 
when solemnly set apart to these offices in the Church 
of God; and can he then suppose that the same 
Church has deliberately bound a system of external 
regulations upon our conscience which forbids us to 
discharge, to the extent of our ability, the duties and 
responsibilities so solemnly laid upon us ? This we 
can hardly suppose. 

But is it true that our clergy — those I mean who 
are earnest and faithful — are unsuccessful in their 
ministrations ? or less successful than others who are 
not under our system ? It was but recently that a 
distinguished Methodist preacher published a letter in 
which he avowed that the Parochial Clergy of Eng- 
land were doing the Lord's w r ork more faithfully and 
successfully among all sorts and conditions of men, 
than those of the dissenting bodies around them. 
And more recently, the Congregational Divines of 
the same land avowed, in a public discussion, the 
necessity of adopting a Liturgy as a means of greater 
and more permanent success in their ministrations. 
All apparent success is not real, and we must look to 
that which is the product of truth, for that alone is 
safe and eternal. 

I presume there are, both of the clergy and laity, 
some who so construe the system of the Church, and 
who so interpret her laws and traditions, that they do 
appear to contravene as well an expansive spirit of 
Christian charity, as a thorough compliance with the 

13* 



210 The Memorial Papers. 

very soul of our commission, " Go ye into all the 
world and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
But such cases are found in every Christian body, 
and under every system. I by no means think lightly 
of a conscientious compliance with the Canons and 
Rubrics of the Church. Far otherwise. Still it is 
possible for men to become in these matters what, in 
social intercourse, we call sensitive. And all I plead 
for is that this morbid rubricity shall not be taken as 
the true interpretation and scope of our system. 

Asking your pardon if it shall seem presumptuous, 
and your patience if it seem futile, I will endeavour 
to illustrate my conception of this point. Perhaps it 
is fair to consider our charge and commission, as cler- 
gymen, under two aspects — one as we are ministers 
(literally) of the Church as an organized body ; the 
other, as we are ambassadors for Christ to a world in 
rebellion. Now, for the best of reasons, the Church 
prescribes in w T hat way her discipline and worship 
shall be conducted, so that all shall be for her peace 
and edification. This prescription is made with such 
limits and discretions as to adapt the whole to the 
occurring contingencies of all human affairs. But 
they all pertain to the Church as such, or to her indi- 
vidual members — for she cares for all, in every condi- 
tion. And yet, fixed as all appears to be, and really 
is, there is a wide margin left after all to the discretion 
and zeal of the minister — as for instance in the de- 
partments of preaching, and parochial visiting. 

But the question now arises, does the clergyman's 



Bishop Scott's Communication. £11 

charge, as an ambassador for Christ, cease with the 
performance of this ministry in and for the Church ? 
We are not asking now whether the faithful discharge 
of his pastoral care, in an ordinary congregation, be 
not enough for his heart, and head, and hands. We 
are looking for a principle. Is he not the ambassador 
for Christ to those who are without the Church — to 
pray them in his stead to be reconciled to God ? Is 
he not bound to do good in this respect to all men, 
while he should care especially for those who are of 
the household of faith ? 

T© this question it would seem a very general and 
decided answer has been given by all orders in the 
Church, and that answer has been generally acqui- 
esced in. For example ; while the Sunday School is 
confined principally to the children of a particular 
congregation, it may justly be regarded as an aid to 
the minister in his appropriate work of catechizing 
the children of his charge. This, however, does not 
prevent but that the same minister, assisted by such 
as are willing, may rent rooms in destitute places, 
and gather in such other children as would not come 
to the Church, or could not be there accommodated, 
and give them such religious instruction as their 
wants demand. And in these exercises, whether in 
the Parish Sunday School room, or in any other 
place, it is considered not only allowable, but proper, 
that other forms of worship be adopted than the Order 
for Morning and Evening Prayer. And this proceeds 
upon the obvious principle that we are preparing these 



212 The Memorial Papers. 

children to become intelligent and devout worshippers 
in the Church. 

Now if this course be consistent with our system, 
how is it not equally so for a clergyman to adopt 
similar means of reaching the untaught and godless 
adults around him ? This course is constantly pur- 
sued in our foreign missions, and these grown-up 
neglecters of God in Christian lands, do not differ so 
widely from children or heathens but that the same 
course becomes necessary in their case. They must 
be taught and interested in religion before they can 
become worshippers in any form. If we can but 
lead them, " by the word of truth, by the Holy 
Ghost, ,, to a sense of their sin, and of their duty, 
they will spontaneously become worshippers of God 
" in spirit and in truth." Look at St. Paul upon Mars 
Hill — where is any evidence that he preceded that 
sermon by the regular form of worship used in Christ- 
ian assemblies, or by any worship at all ? 

I am not content to ask merely whether the Canons 
and Rubrics, rightly understood, prevent such a 
course; I ask, whether it be not an integral part of 
his solemn commission and duty as an ambassador for 
Christ ? For the manner in which he uses this trust, 
every clergyman is, undoubtedly, accountable to the 
ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese ; and it is the 
duty of his Bishop to see that he use not this liberty 
for a cloak. 

I am sure, Right Reverend Fathers and Brethren, 
you will not mistake the purport of this reasoning, as 






Bishop Scott's Communication. 213 

if I were disparaging the Prayer Book, or the place 
it holds in the worship of the Church ; or the value 
of a settled ministry. These are not the questions in 
debate. Sincerely believing that our system gives 
ample scope for the discharge of every duty — for 
" making full proof of our ministry" — I have sought 
to vindicate it from this apparent misapprehension ; 
for I do not see what alteration could materially 
better its adaptation. 

If any alteration, however, of our Liturgical 
arrangements should be deemed necessary for its 
better adaptation to a strictly missionary work, I 
should then make this suggestion : the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer remaining what it is, or what the General 
Convention shall see proper to make it, as the estab- 
lished form of worship for the Church, let it be sub- 
mitted to the judgment of each Bishop, with the 
advice of his standing committee, to authorize such 
modified use of the service as the necessities of his 
Diocese may demand. Even this would be but a 
partial return to primitive usage, when each Diocese 
had its own use. There are undoubtedly great advan- 
tages resulting to the Church from a general uniformity 
in worship ; but if that uniformity be so minute and 
fixed as to refuse adaptation to the actual condition 
and wants of Christian men, or to restrain in any 
degree the preaching of the Gospel to every creature, 
then it becomes a yoke of bondage, and a damage to 
Christ's kingdom. We surely need not to apply a 
more rigid law of interpretation in this case than our 



214 The Memorial Papers. 

Lord applied to one of the precepts of the Decalogue : 
" The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
the Sabbath." The cases are sufficiently analogous. 
The other leading point presented in the Memorial 
refers to the increase of ministerial agency, and the 
uniting in closer bonds of those already employed in 
different Christian bodies. With reference to the 
first, so far as it relates to clergymen, I do not very 
well see how our existing Canons could be much 
enlarged. It should certainly be regarded as desira- 
ble, if not. indispensable, that Bishops and Presbyters 
be educated men, and therefore we have made that 
the general rule. At the same time provision is 
made for ordaining all, as well to the Priesthood as 
the Diaconate, who have even the lowest grade of 
preparation with which we could desire to see any 
one admitted to the ministry. Whether this latter 
class have been sufficiently encouraged to enter into 
orders is a different question. Nor can there be a 
question that many of that class would be much more 
useful men than scores of those who are classically 
educated. Where to stop between our present Canons, 
and the indiscriminate licensing or ordaining every 
one who wishes to preach, I do not clearly see. I 
believe the two large religious bodies in this country 
who have carried out this scheme, are becoming wearied 
and disgusted with it, and well they may be so. If 
any body could venture on such a course, the Church 
could, with the tempering influence of her Prayer 
Book. But this I presume no one desires. 



Bishop Scott's Communication. 215 

The suggestion for uniting the Protestant denomi- 
nations, or increasing our ministry, by ordaining those 
who at the same time decline to unite cordially with 
us in the general system of discipline and worship, 
seems to me entirely inadmissible. There is but one 
way of admitting it, and that is by abolishing entirely 
our rule of Liturgical service. The objection does 
not lie in the minds of our non-Episcopal brethren, 
against our Prayer Book, but against the use of all 
written forms of public prayer. Now what would be 
gained by the admission of such persons to our minis- 
try ? Would there be any more of real unity then 
than now ? Would not the strife and division be rather 
increased, as contests within the household are always 
more implacable than those among strangers ? If 
our brethren stood apart simply on account of our 
mode of worship, I would consent to any modification 
of it w 7 hich piety and good sense might demand. For 
I am w r ell assured that if the rejection of the Liturgy 
were not a ground upon which denominational exist- 
ence is staked (and must, therefore, be maintained), 
a very Large proportion of the intelligent and pious 
of all denominations would unite in the use of it. To 
reach a consummation so devoutly to be wished as the 
reunion of all who hold the substance of the true 
faith, I would consent, reluctantly it may be, to any 
considerable liberty in this matter. For instance, 
that a clergyman might close the services by using an 
extemporary prayer, or one of his own composition, 
after sermon ; or that one service in the day might 



216 The Memorial Papers. 

be conducted without the use of the Liturgy. I do 
not say that I desire this alteration; but I would 
concede it for such an object. Having been brought 
up without any knowledge of Liturgical worship, and 
accustomed for thirteen years to officiate without it in 
public, I ought to feel the cramp and hindrance of 
the Liturgy if there be any. This, however, is yet 
to be discovered ; and I would not consent, on any 
ground, to abolish the use of the Prayer Book. 

It is useless, however, to discuss this point further. 
I am not aware of any desire, on the part of any 
considerable number of non-Episcopalians, to receive 
ordination at our hands ; and in all those cases where 
such a desire arises from conscientious convictions, 
there is no hindrance found in the required con- 
formity. A number of the points to which the Puri- 
tans objected in England, have either been removed 
or made discretionary in the Church in this country ; 
but has that conciliated the objectors? Not only so, 
but the bodies which then dissented and separated 
have abandoned or modified the original principles 
upon which the separation w T as founded, receding still 
farther at every step. 

You may ask, then, is there no remedy for these 
crying wants — for these confessedly great evils? 
Must things continue as they are ? Let us carefully 
distinguish between what belongs to us, and what to 
God. The Church, in every age, has made her most 
egregious blunders in attempting to do, by her own 
wisdom, what God will do by His own Spirit of Truth. 



Bishop Scott's Communication. 217 

You need no illustration of this. What then is the 
remedy ? It is to be sought alone in the grace — the 
abounding grace of the New Covenant — in the presence 
and mighty working of the Holy Ghost. Do we need 
more labourers in the harvest? He alone can call 
and send them. Is our ministry inefficient, or fruit- 
less ? So it will continue, until pervaded and accom- 
panied by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven. 
Is the Church weakened and disgraced by strife and 
schism ? It is because professed Christians " are 
carnal and walk as men" — and will so continue until 
" all by one spirit are baptized into one body, and 
made to drink into one spirit." When the true Pen- 
tecostal Spirit shall descend upon the Church General 
as at the first, Christian men will no longer deify 
their own opinions, or themselves, but Christ will be 
all, and all shall be one in Him, as He and the Father 
are one. 

But it may be asked, Have we not something to 
do, as workers together with God, to bring about this 
blessed result ? Assuredly, much. Kepentance — con- 
fession — prayer without ceasing — " to be instant in 
season, out of season, in preaching the word, reprov- 
ing, rebuking, exhorting with all long-suffering and 
patience." In all this we must look simply to the 
truth as it is in Jesus, in all its relations. If in any- 
thing w r e have unduly magnified what is indifferent, 
we should relax it simply for Christ and the truth's 
sake. If we have contended, even for the truth, in 
an ungentle or uncharitable spirit, this must be 

19 



218 The Memorial Papers. 

exchanged for the meekness and gentleness of Christ. 
And then, when we have done all this, we may com- 
mit all in the confidence of faith to Him whose " is 
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.'' He 
will, in His own time, bring light out of darkness 
and order out of confusion. 

There are several points raised in your questions 
appended to the Memorial which deserve serious 
attention. Most of those pertaining to the modifica- 
tion of our discipline and worship have been well pro- 
pounded in the paper issued by the recent meeting 
of Convocation in England. For example, the neces- 
sity of employing an itinerant ministry wherever 
there are destitute regions of country, or many feeble 
congregations. There is manifestly no other way of 
preaching the Gospel to all people. And yet the 
suggestion that these are to extend their mission into 
the parishes of settled ministers, is liable to most 
serious abuse. This was pretty thoroughly tried a 
few years back in several religious denominations, in 
the form of Evangelists and revival preachers. Its 
fruit is the only commentary needed. Itinerants are 
a necessary but temporary expedient, to supply the 
lack of stated ministers, and to prepare the way for 
them. They should be regarded in no other light. 

Brethren, I crave your indulgence for having 
thus freely expressed my individual views upon some 
of the important matters committed to your considera- 
tion. I pray God to preside over your deliberations, 
by His Holy Spirit, and to conduct you to such con- 



Bishop Scott's Communication. 219 

elusions as may be for His glory in the extension of 
His Kingdom, and the salvation of men. 
Very sincerely, 
B Your servant and brother, 

Thomas F. Scott. 

ISTov. 24, 1854. 



REV. DR. BOWMAN'S COMMUNICATION. 



Right Reverend and Dear Sir : 

My thoughts on the subject of "the Memorial" 
will, I fear, profit you little. But such as they are, 
they are quite at your service. In the general scope 
and aim of the Memorial I heartily concur. Of the 
details which it dimly suggests, I can say nothing ; 
for I do not understand precisely what the memo- 
rialists mean. 

My thoughts may properly range themselves under 
two heads. 1st. The changes in our Liturgical Forms 
and worship that may be expedient. And 2d. The 
best method of working a parish, with a view to the 
end proposed, and in points not prescribed by autho- 
rity. 

As to the first, it seems to me, that one great point 
w T ith the memorialists, is gained by the new Canon in 
regard to admission to the Diaconate. I should think 
they can hardly desire a wider door of entrance than 

(220) 



Dr. Bowman's Communication. 221 

that. To me it seems to meet the exigency in that 
direction fully. 

Next as to our Liturgical Forms. (Of course it is 
not intended to touch doctrines.) Our Afternoon Ser- 
vice, I think, requires no change. It is brief, simple, 
and full. I do not see how it could be improved. 

As to our Morning Service, however, I have no 
objection to change ; except the fear I have of all 
changes in things long established. Apart from this, 
I should be glad to see it shortened in length, and 
simplified in form. The most obvious mode of shorten- 
ing, will be the omission of the ante-Communion 
office. Notoriously, Morning Prayer, the Litany, 
and the Communion office, were distinct services 
originally. By running them together, we have in- 
creased them to an inconvenient length, and destroyed 
the beautiful simplicity and unity by which they are 
separately characterized. Why not have the Com- 
munion Service, as it now stands — perhaps with some 
brief introduction, to take off the feeling of abrupt- 
ness — to be used alone when the Sacrament is actu- 
ally administered ? "With this change, the remainder 
of our Morning Service would perhaps be sufficiently 
simple, and not too long; though it might be con- 
sidered whether it is expedient to pray for the same 
objects in the Morning Prayer, and again in the Litany, 
as ex. gr. for our rulers and for the clergy. 

Every special occasion also — as Ordination, Con- 
firmation, Consecration, &c, &c. — should have a 
separate and distinct office, and not be complicated 

19 * 



222 The Memorial Papers. 

and lengthened as it now is, by being dove-tailed into 
the regular Morning or Evening Service. As things 
now are, it is almost impossible to keep up the spirit 
of devotion through these long and involved services. 

The Memorial does not say, but I suppose it means, 
that there should be a liberty in regard to extempore 
prayers. And provided the opening services are pre- 
scribed by authority, I see no unanswerable objection 
to allowing a freedom in the pulpit, if brethren desire 
it. It is idle to say men are not competent. The 
same argument would drive them from the pulpit 
altogether. If a clergyman himself desires it, and 
his people desire it, I say let him use his gift. My 
greatest objection to it has always been, that it was 
unauthorized bylaw. The " Eikon Basilike" yields 
this point unreservedly. On other occasions — as 
funerals, meetings of societies, and the like — for 
which the Church makes no provision, let every man 
do the best he can. I have never considered myself 
at all bound by the Prayer Book, when I found my- 
self in a position for which evidently the Prayer 
Book had not ^provided. In all such emergencies, I 
feel myself as free as a Methodist or a Presbyterian. 

With these changes, it seems to me, we shall have 
done all that is desirable in the way of Liturgical 
changes. Some of these, probably, were not in the 
contemplation of the Memorialists. 

Next, as to what I call the ivorking of the parish. 
I think as much quite is to be hoped from changes 
here, as from alterations in our Liturgical forms. 



Dr. Bowman's Communication. 223 

But as this does not touch the business of the Memo- 
rial directly, I don't know why I should trouble you 
with my thoughts upon it. I will, however, be brief. 

In all our large towns and cities we should have 
free Churches ; not all of that character, but enough 
for the exigency ; not for the poor, but where rich 
and poor shall meet together, on a footing of sub- 
stantial equality — at least so far as the worship of 
God is concerned. 

Our clergy must learn to preach without writing. 
I know the objections that scholars and rhetoricians 
will urge against the extempore method. But the 
world is not made up of scholars and rhetoricians. 
For the mind of the masses, with all its crudities and 
repetitions, the extempore method is undoubtedly the 
best. In an age which lays such stress on preaching, 
the importance of this is hardly to be over-estimated ; 
especially when Christianity is to assume an aggressive 
character, and attack ignorance and vice in their own 
strongholds. 

We must draw the Laity in to our assistance, to a 
much greater extent than has been usual. Many 
parts of the work, now left wholly in the hands of the 
minister, could be as well, perhaps better done, by an 
earnest-minded Layman. Without at all intruding 
into the province of the clergy, they may render the 
most valuable assistance, in the way of exploring, 
drawing men out to worship, counselling, encouraging 
those who of all things need most a word of advice 
and sympathy. By availing themselves largely of 



224 The Memorial Papers. 

lay co-operation, the Methodists increase many-fold 
their working power, and at the same time draw men 
to their Communion, by that natural feeling of grati- 
fication which all men find in seeing their services 
valued and called for. Certainly, caution is neces- 
sary here : but where is it not necessary ? 

I have a scheme of a brotherhood for my parish 
floating in my thoughts ; somewhat more extensive in 
its range than any I have seen ; i. e. I wish to make 
its benefits available to all without reference to age or 
health, or ability to contribute. The contributions 
of those who will never draw from it, may be made, I 
hope, to provide for those who can contribute little or 
nothing. 

But I grow tedious. I will briefly mention what 
we are doing at the new Church, and then release 
you. There is the Sunday School, with above one 
hundred children, twenty or thirty of them German — 
speaking no English — Romanists and Protestants. 
But we have teachers who speak German. Then, 
through the week, Mr. Coit has his school, of about 
forty boys, in the basement of the Church. On 
Wednesday evening we have an excellent teacher of 
sacred music, whose instructions all are free to attend. 
On every other evening in the week, except Saturday, 
in the same place, a class of adults come to be taught 
to read and write. This week, on Saturday, the girls 
of the neighbourhood are to be assembled to be taught 
the use of the needle ; and of course we shall take the 
opportunity to teach them something else. I am 



Dr. Bowman's Communication. 225 

about to attempt what may be called cottage lectures ; 
i. e. to go of an evening to the houses of those poor 
people, where three, four, or six of the neighbours 
may be called in, and have some little but edifying 
service among those who have but seldom been seen 
in the house of God. Out of these small beginnings 
something valuable may come. It is truly a day of 
small things with us yet. If we succeed in our work, 
it will be, under God, more owing to the zealous 
efforts of devout women, than to almost any other 
single cause. Pardon this interminable epistle. You 
will never be so rash as to ask my opinion again. 
Truly your friend and brother, 
S. Bowman. 

June 19th, 1854. 



DR. COXE'S COMMUNICATION. 



The Eight Keverend the Bishop of Pennsylvania, &c. 

Right Reverend and Dear Sir : — 

It affords me pleasure to comply with the request 
you do me the honour to make, and to condense the 
substance of my letter to Bishop Otey, into a short 
outline view. I am glad that you propose to collect 
different views upon the important subject now rising 
into practical consequence in the Church, and the 
more so, because, though deeply impressed with my 
own conclusions in the premises, I am sure that one- 
sided measures are neither wise nor practicable. 

The object of my letter to the Chairman of the 
late Commission, was to urge the necessity of the 
perpetuation of such a Commission, with a view to 
Christian unity and Liturgical adaptation ; and also, 
to explain the position of the " Postscribers," as 
differing from the Memorialists. It certainly affords 
me no small satisfaction to find the measures actually 

(226) 



Dr. Coxe's Communication. 227 

adopted at the late General Convention, coincident in 
spirit, if not in detail, with those which I had endea- 
voured to promote ; the Commission on Church Unity, 
and the two committees of your Right Reverend House 
(that on concert with the Churches of England and 
Scotland in Liturgical matters, and that on the expe- 
diency of future intercourse with Sweden), covering 
the entire ground, so far as it might be well to advance 
at present. 

Waiving the subject of the standard Bible, in con- 
nexion with which the dangerous innovations of 
popular editions were pointed out ; in the matter of 
the Prayer Book, a similar solicitude was expressed 
that it might be left untouched. As a substitute for 
various suggestions of the "Memorialists" and others, 
I ventured to propose the compilation of a Primer, 
after the example of the Primers of the Reformers, 
which should meet the exigencies of our situation, in 
such a way as to disturb nothing at present estab- 
lished. The more I think of it, the more am I per- 
suaded that this idea, matured and carried out by 
abler hands, may be made acceptable to nearly " all 
sorts and conditions of men" in our Anglo-American 
Church. 

The subject of a revised Hymnal was presented as 
one for which there is a strong and increasing demand, 
and from which none of those considerations which 
affect every conservative mind, with reference to the 
Prayer Book, operate to dissuade us. The labours 
of Bishop Heber, and others, in this direction, came 



228 The Memorial Papers. 

too late to be felt in the work of 1832 ; and since 
then, the elevated standard of taste, and the growing 
sense of ritual propriety, as well as the valuable 
additions which have been made to devotional litera- 
ture in general, have been calling, more and more 
loudly, for a revision of that useful, but imperfect 
work. 

In this connection was introduced the interesting 
subject of the position of the Moravian and other 
Christians, presumptively Apostolic in their Orders 
and ritual ; and while the value of a standing Com- 
mission on Church Unity was argued, it was suggested 
that the hope of finally including such Christians in 
the unity of the Church's discipline, might be greatly 
strengthened by the incorporation of some of their 
favourite hymns with ours, and by including the unob- 
jectionable portions of their Liturgies in the proposed 
Primer. When I reflect on the vast concessions which 
even Saint Gregory, the Roman patriarch of the sixth 
century, was willing to make to the Church of the 
Britons, in order to unite them with his own, in the 
conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, I cannot think we 
should be more stiff than he was, as to terms of com- 
munion with any orthodox Christians of our own 
country, who might be joined with us in the holy 
efforts of evangelization, so imperatively demanded 
by the peculiar necessities of this immense country, 
and by its appalling religious destitution. 

Not to dwell on other details which have been 
amply provided for, by the action of the Bishops in 



Dr. Coxe's Communication. 229 

the late Convention, and hazarding no expression of 
opinion as to the steps which provoked some differ- 
ence of opinion between the members of the Lower 
House, I close this communication by referring any, 
who may be further interested in its suggestions, to 
the letter itself, as published in the " Church Review" 
of last October. Its drift was, in short, to present a 
medium course between extremes, and, if possible, to 
unite the great body of Churchmen in a plan of 
healthful progress, under the restraints of a sober 
conservatism ; thus meeting the wants of millions 
now external to the Church's unity, while sacrificing 
not a jot or tittle of what is justly dear to the thou- 
sands whom it already includes, and whose spiritual 
wants it entirely satisfies. 

May I conclude by expressing the belief that the 
Prayer Book has nothing to fear from the liturgical 
inquiries likely to be stimulated by the pressure of 
this movement among us. The more we examine it, 
the more we shall love it, and the more jealous shall 
we be of its old landmarks which our fathers have 
set. It is evident that a reaction is already begun in 
England, where great works such as that of Mr. 
Freeman, are correcting the spiritual mawkishness 
and dyspepsia engendered by the writers who killed 
the "British Critic." For the next three years 
Liturgical studies will be a great feature of the times ; 
and should the mass of thinkers in our Church, at 
the end of that period, find themselves up to the 
work exhibited by a writer in the Mercersburg Re- 
20 



230 The Memorial Papers. 

view (said to be an eminent Presbyterian), it is evident 
that we shall be in no danger from rash and innovat- 
ing legislation. 

I remain, Right Reverend and Dear Sir, 
With sincere and filial regard, 

Your faithful friend and servant, 

A. Cleveland Coxe. 

December 12, 1856. 



DR. CRAIK'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Rt. Rev. James H. Otey, D. D., Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on the Memorial of Dr. Muhlenberg and others. 

Eight Reverend and Dear Sir : — 

Having received at several times a printed copy of 
the questions proposed by the Committee of Bishops 
on "The Memorial," &c., I have thought that you 
might not consider it too presumptuous in me to make 
a few brief answers to some of the questions. I there- 
fore respectfully lay before you those answers in the 
accompanying printed slip. 

In confirmation of one of the views therein pre- 
sented, permit me to add, that the Bishop in his See — • 
Cathedra — is the prominent feature in the external 
aspect of the Church as left to us by the Apostles. 
The Bishop thus derived his living principally from 
the central Church, and exercised a real pastoral care 
over the whole people of the contiguous country, which 
formed his Diocese : the Presbyters and Deacons 
being his assistants. 

(231) 



232 The Memorial Papers. 

Nearly the whole Church has sanctioned the wis- 
dom of this seemingly Apostolic arrangement by imi- 
tating it. The refusal of the Church in the United 
States to imitate it has sanctioned its wisdom in ano- 
ther way, by our comparative failure to do the work 
of the Church in this country. The English Church 
attempts to supply the want of a sufficient number of 
Bishops by the expedient of Archdeacons, clothed 
with a sort of semi-episcopal authority. The Metho- 
dists in this country accomplish many valuable ends 
of the Episcopate by their contrivance of Presiding 
Elders, who constitute the most potent arm of that 
skilfully ordered society. 

I trust that the authorities of the Church will not 
permit the present movement to pass without grasping 
effectually with the important subject of the wasted 
energy and power of the women of the Church. 

With profound respect, your friend and obedient 
servant, 

James Craik. 

Dec. 7, 1856. 

A FEW BRIEF SUGGESTIONS, IN ANSWER TO SOME OF THE QUESTIONS 
PROPOSED BY THE COMMISSION OF BlSHOPS ON THE MEMORIAL. 

Only such of these questions are here considered as 
come within the range of the personal experience of 
the writer. The attempt at extreme conciseness gives 
an appearance of harsh abruptness to the answers, 
which the writer trusts will be pardoned for the sake 



Dr. Cuaik's Communication. 233 

of so important a result as brevity in regard to a sub- 
ject about which so much has already been written. 

Class L 

Question 1. The practical efficiency of Ministers. 
Answer. — Let all candidates be taught to read Eng- 
lish. The only certain mode of correcting vicious 
modes of reading is, to employ the services of some 
one who can give to the student an accurate reheat- 
sal of his own performances. After many repetitions 
of this discipline, the young man will begin to detect 
the similar vice in his own tones, and then only 
will it be possible for him to correct it. It is lamenta- 
ble to see men of cleverness making themselves and 
our glorious Liturgy a cause of pain to some, and of 
laughter to others, for the lack of this most essential 
element of education. 

4. Itinerating Ministers. Answer. — While the pro- 
portion of our ministry to the population is so 
small, all our stations, out of the cities, should com- 
bine in some degree the itinerant with the parochial 
system. Almost every village in the land will afford 
a small Episcopal congregation on the first proposal. 
But the congregation in most of these places will not 
be self-supporting in twenty years. The burden of a 
" settled pastor" is too great for the people. The 
work to be done is too small for the minister. To set 
the poor man to school-keeping for a living, only 
makes the death of the enterprise a more lingering 
and painful one. But three, four, or five of such sta- 

20 * 



234 The Memorial Papers. 

tions will be self-supporting at once — full of hope, 
life, and vigour. The writer presents here the results 
of a large and accumulated experience. 

Our " itinerating evangelists" should be the Bishops. 
Our Church will not begin to fulfil her mission in this 
country until the dioceses are small enough to enable 
the Bishop to give half his time to the cathedral, or 
parish church, from which he derives a part of his 
support ; and to make a full and satisfactory visitation 
of the whole of the Diocese in the remaining six 
months. 

7. Answer. — If our churches in large towns are 
opened more frequently, it must be by an additional 
force of ministers. All the active ministers work 
harder now than they ought, in justice to themselves 
and to the Church. 

9, 10, 11, 12. Lay co-operation. Answer. — En- 
courage brotherhoods and similar associations. Imi- 
tate, w T ith a reasonable adaptation to circumstances, 
the Church of the Advent in Boston, and the Church 
of the Holy Communion in New York. 

Class II. 

Question 1. The Liturgy. Answer. — Saying the 
Litany in connexion with the Morning Prayer, is the 
feature of our service that makes it oppressive and 
distasteful to that large part of every congregation 
who do not take delight in prayer. 

The beauty, variety, rapid transition, and complete- 
ness of the Morning Prayer, and the ante- Communion 



Dr. Ciuik's Communication. 235 

service, would make them attractive, even where com- 
bined, to any miscellaneous congregation. To add on 
the Litany, beautiful as it is, is to convert pleasure 
and satisfaction into pain and weariness in the case 
of all but the more devout. Allow the Litany to be 
said before Morning Prayer, by the praying part of 
the congregation, assembled for that purpose, and all 
difficulty will be removed. The ante-Communion is 
the special Sunday service, and should never be omit- 
ted on that day. 

What is wanted in purely Missionary services is, 
just that which all efficient missionaries already have 
— common sense and loyalty to the Church. Use as 
much of the Liturgy as circumstances will allow, and 
at every transition in the service, tell the people what 
you are going to do, and the reason of it, and ask 
their active help. They will join you with more uni- 
formity than many city congregations, and they will 
use the whole Morning Prayer and ante-Communion, 
omitting the Litany, not only without weariness, but 
with expressions of unalloyed gratification. I have 
tried this very often, and it always succeeded in win- 
ning the people. 

To curtail the musical part of the service will be a 
long step backwards. This is the feature which is 
most attractive to those who are without, and whom 
we should seek to win. I should be glad to see the 
Metre Psalms, as a collection, abolished ; and the few 
that are good incorporated into the collection of 
hymns. 



236 The Memorial Papers. 

2, 3. Opening the door to the Ministry. Answer. — 
It is wide enough, and without more strictness on 
the part of our authorities, too wide already. All the 
difficulties that are so much talked about in the way 
of the efficiency of our Church, are as nothing in com- 
parison with that fatal prominent one — the house 
divided against itself. The large majority of our 
ministers, of all parties — if there is more than one 
party in the Church — faithfully preach the Gospel, 
as the Church received it. But there is distributed 
about through the mass a small number who coarsely 
denounce that preaching as " a soul-destroying lie." 
The teaching of the Gospel is thus effectually thwarted, 
and the power of the Church over public opinion com- 
pletely destroyed. Men will not seriously inquire into 
that which is thus resolved into the mere peculiarities 
of an odious party. They are too glad of so good an 
excuse to shrink from inquiry, and to retain their old 
opinions. 

If the Church could speak with one consenting 
voice throughout this land, men, bewildered and 
divided as they are, would be compelled to hear and 
heed her. Her moral and persuasive and healing 
powder would then be invincible : her progress would 
then be rapid enough to satisfy the most ardent and 
enthusiastic. But, alas ! when men are ordained to 
her ministry, clothed with her authority, and seated 
in her high places, who cannot conscientiously say her 
Catechism for children, and whose work of love it is 
to revile her doctrines, her institutions, and her faith- 



Dr. Craik's Communication. 287 

ful people, her enemies rejoice, and the world looks 
on with comfortable self-complacency. 

Until these men are repelled from the ministry of 
the Church, and permitted to go to the denominations 
they love so dearly, and fancy to be so pure, our Zion 
will not be as a city that is at unity in itself, and can- 
not therefore expect the prosperity that is promised 
to such unity. No legislation can galvanize a divided 
Church into adequate efficiency. With what proper 
motive these gentlemen seek admission into a Church 
in which they do not believe, and into a communion 
which they declare to be corrupt, it is hard to see. 

The faithful men must do the best they can with 
things as they are, and wait upon God, and strive 
diligently for such measure of success as our actual 
condition will allow. I conclude, therefore, these 
brief suggestions with an expression of the speculative 
opinion, that the multiplication of free churches, 
and the encouragement of such associations of females 
as have recently been established in Germany and in 
England, will tend greatly to aid the Church in her 
mission. 



REV. DR. CROSWELL'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Right Reverend Bishops Otey, Doane, A, Potter, Bur- 
gess, and Williams. 

I have recently received a printed circular, purport- 
ing to be from the " Commission of Bishops appointed 
to consider the Memorial of the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg 
and others;" to which two classes of questions are 
appended, with a suggestion that "Answers in writing, 
addressed to any member of the Commission, will be 
thankfully received.' ' At my time of life, and at a 
period when my connexion with the Church on earth 
must necessarily be drawing to a close, it might, per- 
haps, better become me to keep silence on the topics 
here presented. But if, from my long experience, I 
may be able to add anything to the stock of informa- 
tion which the Commission may draw from other and 
more competent sources, I could hardly justify myself 
in withholding the few suggestions that follow. 
I remain, Right Reverend Fathers, 

with the highest respect and veneration, 
your servant in the Gospel, 

Harry Croswell. 

March, 1855. 

(238) 



Dr. Croswell's Communication. 239 

Class I. 

Question 1. I am not sure that any special improve- 
ment could be made in the present method of training 
young men for the ministry, "in respect to learning, 
piety, intellectual power, or practical efficiency. " I 
have been led to believe, however, from long observa- 
tion, that if candidates for the ministry could be per- 
suaded or required to spend a portion of their proba- 
tionary period, say one year, under the immediate 
supervision of some efficient parish clergyman, it might 
conduce very much to their practical usefulness. It 
would afford them an opportunity of becoming familiar 
with the everyday working duties of the ministry. 
They might take an active part as catechists or super- 
intendents of the Sunday Schools. They might 
accompany the clergyman in his pastoral visits to the 
sick, and on other special duties. They might officiate 
as lay-readers, when called upon for the purpose, and 
especially at extra lectures. They might be employed 
as almoners to the rector, and thus be brought into an 
immediate acquaintance w T ith the wants of the poor 
and destitute. I have observed, and I presume that 
every member of the Commission may also have 
observed, that young men who have received at least 
a portion of their training in this way, have often made 
more efficient parish clergymen than those whose seclu- 
sion from the world, in schools and seminaries, has 
kept them in ignorance of many of the leading traits 
in the human character, and of the spiritual wants of 
the masses. 



240 The Memorial Papers. 

2. It is difficult to say what is "the prevalent char- 
acter of our preaching." It is probably as various as 
the tastes and dispositions of men. But, so far as my 
observation enables me to judge, I apprehend there is 
a prevalent defect in the character of our preaching. 
The Church, as a permanent institution of God — as a 
sacramental Church — is not so often brought into view, 
as its interests, and the interests of religion, demand. 
And our people, in many cases, are suffered to forget 
that the Church is distinguished from other religious 
communities, except in its forms of worship, and in its 
mode of ordination. The modes of instruction, besides 
sermons from the pulpit, which I have "found specially 
beneficial and effective, " will furnish an answer to 

3. Besides a thorough system of parochial visita- 
tion to the well, no less than the sick, the poor and 
the needy — and the personal distribution of alms and 
private charities, as well as Prayer Books, tracts, and 
other books of instruction — I have adopted several 
modes of extraparochial services ; such as evening 
lectures, in school-houses and lecture-rooms: catechet- 
ical and Bible classes, and Bible lectures ; and more 
especially "pastoral visits," held at private houses in 
different parts of the parish, where the neighbours have 
been invited to attend, and where the exercises consist 
of prayer, and praise, and familiar instruction on some 
Scriptural Lesson. In this way, many have doubtless 
been led to receive the Gospel who might otherwise 
have remained in heathen ignorance, within sight of 
our consecrated and well-sustained Churches. 



Dr. Croswell's Communication. 241 

4. "Permanent deacons" may doubtless be advan- 
tageously employed in parishes which can provide 
suitable support for them ; and there may be cases 
where a portion of the clergy may devote their time 
to private or other instruction, without any neglect of 
the spirit of their ordination vows. But I can con- 
ceive no benefit to be derived from " itinerating Evan- 
gelists," within the limits of organized parishes. Such 
men would almost necessarily interfere with the regu- 
lar duties of the parish clergyman, dividing the 
responsibility with him, but seldom or never rendering 
him any valuable assistance. ' 

5. Doubtless the Church may be edified, and "min- 
isters, thrown out of parish life, may yet be advanta- 
geously occupied," in various ways. For example, as 
professors and teachers in institutions of learning — in 
seminaries, academies, and select schools — in superin- 
tending periodicals and other works — and in any em- 
ploy which has for its object the promotion and incul- 
cation of religious truth. 

6. I am not aware of any defects in the matters 
here enumerated. 

7. It is probable that much benefit might be derived 
from such arrangements as are here suggested, and 
more especially if better provision were thereby made 
for more frequent Communion. But, except in 
Churches where the sittings are free, it might be 
extremely difficult to settle any arrangement that 
might not disturb the claims or rights of pew-holders. 

21 



242 The Memorial Papers. 

8. The appointment of Bible and Confirmation 
classes. 

9. Within the limits of my own observation, I am 
not aware of any lack of this co-operation. 

10. By the teaching and example of the pastors. 
11 & 12. Doubtless an almost universal answer to 

these questions would be, "Give the young and the 
worldly men among us more attractive preaching." 
This is all very well ; but I think the evil lies too deep 
to be cured by preaching alone, be it never so attract- 
ive. The sensual heart can be thoroughly probed, 
only through the efficacy of prayer. The Church, col- 
lectively, does not pray enough. It is true that she 
has made ample provision for prayer, both public and 
private. By a daily service, and by full offices for the 
festivals and fasts, and for the holy days of the year, 
she has invited her people to "pray always." But so 
long as this provision is in a great measure neglected ; 
so long as her ministers, and those who profess to be 
Christians, take no special interest in these services ; 
how can it be expected that the thoughtless youth and 
the worldly man can imbibe the spirit of religion? 
Let the Church and her ministers show that they are 
in earnest in desiring the salvation of souls, and, I 
doubt not, they will kindle up a sympathy among all 
ranks and conditions of men, sufficient to fill our 
churches with young men, and to exercise a saving 
influence over the minds of those hitherto engrossed 
in business. 

13. Much can be done towards promoting these 



Dr. Croswell's Communication. 243 

objects, by frequent earnest appeals to the people. 
But in no way, it appears to me, can we secure a 
steady and reliable income to the fund for the Mission- 
ary enterprises of the Church, without establishing in 
our several parishes a stated and regular period, say 
monthly, for collecting the free-will offerings of the 
people. This opinion is founded on experience and 
observation. 

Class II. 

Question 1. After an experience of more than forty 
years, in one of the largest parishes in the country, 
and after the most serious reflection on the subject, I 
feel constrained to say, that I should be sorry to see 
any material changes in our Liturgical services. 

(a.) The morning service, including the sermon, 
seldom exceeds an hour and a half; which cannot be 
deemed unreasonable as to time, or too laborious for 
the officiating minister. To lengthen it would hardly 
be found expedient, inasmuch as it seems already to 
embrace everything necessary for a worshipping con- 
gregation. A division of the morning service, on 
Communion Days, might be admissible in large and 
compact parishes; but, under other circumstances, it 
would subject the worshippers to great inconvenience. 

(b.) It has always appeared to me that the tables of 
Lessons, as well for the daily service as for Sundays 
and holy days, might be improved by an entire re-cast- 
ing of the whole ; and that, in the new arrangement, 
it might be well to substitute Lessons from the 



244 The Memorial Papers. 

canonical Scriptures, for those from the Apocryphal 
Books. 

(c.) It appears to me that, if a larger number of 
special prayers, &c, be added, it should be done with 
great caution. The Litany is sufficiently minute to 
reach almost all special cases ; and, beyond this, com- 
prehensiveness seems most desirable. 

(d.) A larger discretion might, doubtless, be allowed 
in the use of hymns and other acts of praise. Appro- 
priate anthems might be advantageously introduced, 
especially on festive or special occasions, and portions 
of the Psalter might be substituted for the metre ver- 
sion of the Psalms, at the discretion of the minister. 

(e.) In Missionary work, both at home and abroad, 
suitable discretion might be allowed in the abridg- 
ment of, or selections from, the Liturgy. 

(f.) I can perceive no good reason for enlarging the 
liberty already allowed to Diocesan authorities. 

2. Any change in this respect, might endanger the 
harmony of the Church. 

3. I can see no good reason for releasing the 
conditions now imposed on candidates, who have 
been licensed or ordained in other Protestant Com- 
munions. 

(a.) As to term of time; having been, for some 
thirty years or more, a member of the Standing Com- 
mittee of the Diocese of Connecticut, I have had a 
pretty good opportunity of observing the practical 
working of the rules of the Church, with regard to 
candidates of this description. The applications for 



Dr. Ckoswell's Communication. 245 

admission have been very frequent, amounting in all 
to a great number ; consisting of Presbyterians, Con- 
gregationalists, Independents, Methodists, and Bap- 
tists. In a large majority of cases, the applicants 
were unwilling to submit to any probation as to time, 
and were rejected. These men, without an exception, 
were ascertained to be mere drones or idlers, restless, 
contentious, and quarrelsome, and desirous of a change 
only with the hope of improving their condition. But, 
on the other hand, the applicants who sought the orders 
of the Church from honest conviction, and were zeal- 
ous and devoted men, have cheerfully submitted to the 
requirements of the Church, and have taken rank 
among the most active, efficient, and useful of our 
ministers. 

(b.) Among the latter class of applicants, no objec- 
tion, so far as I know, was ever made to the worship 
or discipline of the Church. 

4. I know of no facts indicating any such prefer- 
ence, except on the ground of full conformity to all 
the rules, regulations, worship, and discipline of the 
Church. 

5. I know of no facts indicating any such disposi- 
tion, for the sake of unity. The spirit of unity does 
not generally constitute an element of sectarian 
bodies. 

6. I do not feel competent to answer, nor do I deem 
it of much consequence. 

7 and 8. Questions of expediency well worthy of 
consideration. 

21* 



REV. DR. FULLERS COMMUNICATION. 



To the Commission of Bishops. 

Right Reverend Fathers : 

Having with some attention considered a portion 
of the inquiries contained in your circular, I will 
venture to reply as briefly as possible. 

Class I. 

Question 4. Could ministers under the direction 
of the Bishop of each Diocese visit such portions of 
it as are destitute of our ministrations, great good 
would follow, provided their labours were succeeded 
by a permanent settlement of other clergymen. 
But the Evangelists we most need are Bishops them- 
selves, so that they may be the pioneers of the Gospel, 
in all our new states and territories, and throughout 
the world. 

6. Could our present Catechism be enlarged by 
appending the doctrinal teaching of our articles and 
offices, material w^ould thus be furnished for the 
instruction of that class of the young who now so 

(246) 



/ 



Dr. Fuller's Communication. 247 

often consider themselves too old for the ordinary 
training of the Sunday School. 

11. — Discourses to young men, were such addresses 
delivered at fixed periods in the course of each year, 
would, we may hope, attract their attention, and draw 
them in larger numbers to our Churches. 

Were the clergy at all times, moreover, accustomed 
to press upon the young their baptismal obligations, 
our youth would not so frequently desert our places 
of worship. 

Class II. 

Question 1. — (b.) Were the Lessons for Holy Days 
taken exclusively from the Canonical Scriptures, those 
days would be much more generally observed. Les- 
sons are also much needed for Ember Days and 
Missionary occasions. Were the Anthems at the end 
of the Selections of Psalms utterly rejected, three 
advantages at least would accrue. (1.) The proper 
Psalms could then alivays be used ; which they cannot 
now be, when the Anthems are : (2.) Their places could 
be supplied with new Anthems compiled principally 
from the New Testament, after the model of our Easter 
Anthems : and (3.) Anthems could be provided, not 
merely as at present for Christmas, Ash- Wednesday, 
Good Friday, Ascension Day, and Whitsunday, but 
also for Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter Eve, Trinity 
Sunday, and the Rogation and Ember Bays — thus 
imparting to these seasons increased significance and 
impressiveness, particularly to the two last. 

(c.) Were this petition inserted in our Litany as 



248 The Memorial Papers. 

the very first supplication, " We sinners do beseech 
thee to hear us, Lord God ; and that it may please 
thee, Thou Lord of the harvest, to send forth 
labourers into thy harvest/' we should obey his 
express command, which our Prayer Book now so 
entirely neglects. 

We need likewise to have our whole Book of Com- 
mon Prayer more fully adapted to individual and 
private use. For instance : The adult candidate for 
Baptism, is to be " exhorted to prepare himself with 
prayers and fasting for the receiving of this holy 
sacrament," and yet we do not provide him suitable 
prayers. Let, then, brief prayers, compiled from the 
offices and Catechism, be appended to each ; and our 
people would soon more clearly perceive that our 
Prayer Book was a manual not only for the Church, 
but for the closet. Clergymen, and some of the laity, 
can adapt the collects and other prayers to their own 
personal wants ; but the great majority of individuals 
cannot, and therefore the work should be done for 
them. 

A measureless amount of good might be accom- 
plished, if, in addition to the large increase of the 
number of our Bishops, a system of book-hawking 
was extensively and efficiently practised. Thousands 
and tens of thousands of our reading population are 
as ignorant of our Book of Common Prayer, as they 
are of the Koran or the Shasters. While we are the 
only Protestants who have their devotions as well as 
their doctrines embodied in a book, how active and 



Dr. Fuller's Communication. 249 

diligent ought we to be in circulating this book among 
the multitudes who are constantly falling away to the 
abounding forms of error ! 

I have thus with no little diffidence attempted to 
answer some of the inquiries contained in your circu- 
lar. I might perhaps reply to still other questions, 
but presuming that I should only repeat opinions so 
many others will express, I will no longer trespass 
upon your patience. 

Praying the Divine Head of the Church to continu- 
ally lengthen its cords and strengthen its stakes, and 
to build up its children in truth and holiness, 
With great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

Samuel Fuller. 
Sept. 20, 1854. 



REV. DR. GREGORY'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Rt. Rev. Dr. Otey, President of the Commission of 
Bishops, &c. 

The name of the undersigned was subscribed to 
the Memorial, which has been referred to a Commis- 
sion of the House of Bishops, at the last General 
Convention. Of the importance of the general sub- 
ject of the Memorial, and of the greater importance 
of its candid consideration, both by the members of 
our Communion, and by others, I have a most 
thorough persuasion. At the same time I am more 
than ever convinced, that it is not legislation — not 
schemes and plans to promote unity, that is most 
needed in order to make our ecclesiastical system 
more efficient ; but a more earnest, self-denying, 
active, and devout spirit, in all our people, clerical and 
lay, in the use of our present system, with such slight 
modifications as are within our power to make. 

It is said that the Episcopal Church is the Church 
of the educated and the rich. This is so, to a con- 
siderable extent, particularly in the cities. This 

(250) 



Dr. Gregory's Communication. 251 

would be no objection to us, if that class of people 
would make such concessions as Christian humility 
and self-denial demand — if they really evinced sym- 
pathy for the poor, and were active in those good 
works which have almost entirely been given up to 
Odd-Fellowship and Brotherhoods. 

If our city Churches, e. g. would make their seats 
free — will any one doubt that it would work a revolu- 
tion in the public sentiment in regard to the supposed 
aristocracy of Episcopalians ? It cannot be done in 
the present state of feeling — the pride of social dis- 
tinction is against it ; and all the Canons and Councils 
in Christendom cannot make a Church efficient in 
which this feeling prevails. 

I do not think the Lay-members of our Commu- 
nion, generally, are very sensible of our great want : 
if they were, they would make a better provision for 
the support of the ministry — they would take a 
deeper interest in bringing forward and aiding can- 
didates for the ministry — they would be more ready 
to provide for Deacons or assistants in all the larger 
parishes — they would take a livelier interest in all that 
parochial work which aims to make the Church the 
minister of the sick, the poor, the unfortunate, the 
widow, and the orphan. I do not clearly see how 
the conferring of Episcopal ordination on all sorts of 
sectarian preachers, is to be a remedy for this defect. 

I am not aware of any desire on the part of secta- 
rians to get Episcopal orders ; that is, and remain in 
their present position. I am not aware that Baptists, 



252 The Memorial Papers. 

Methodists, or Presbyterians have ever conceived any 
such notion, as that their receiving ordination at the 
hands of our Bishops, would be an advantage to them 
or promote unity among the sects. 

I deem it only respectful to the Commission, to 
submit answers to the questions which they have pro- 
posed. 

I. 

2. My impression is, that the character of a great 
deal of our preaching is too prosy, didactic, and theo- 
logical — too much of the closet — -that it does not aim 
straight at the spirit, and temper, and sins of the 
times — that it lacks adaptation, and neither takes 
hold of men nor affects them. 

I incline to the opinion that, in many of our large 
towns and parishes, out-of-door preaching, by prudent, 
earnest, judicious clergymen, might be of great use. 

Besides sermons from the pulpit, I have always 
found private conversation with individuals exceed- 
ingly beneficial and effective. 

8. The three modes indicated I regard as exceed- 
ingly important. But, alas ! in the present state of 
things, what clergyman, single handed, has time or 
strength to pursue them efficiently. I am scarcely 
fifty years of age; and already my broken health 
and shattered strength, indicate the fate that awaits 
my brethren, who attempt to do the work which is 
laid upon them. 

4. I think most certainly we ought. 

6. The defect of the system of family instruction, 






Dr. Gregory's Communication. 253 

is that it is almost entirely neglected. Of the Sunday 
School, is that it is too much in the hands of incom- 
petent teachers. If the clergy were stronger handed, 
more of it could be done by them. For twenty-five 
years, I have never ceased to be at the head of my 
own Sunday School. 

8. I do not know, unless the pastor can get them 
into a class of candidates for confirmation. 

9. That it is well to increase the co-operation, 
where it can be judiciously and safely done, I am per- 
suaded ; but much must depend on the pastor. 

10. 11, 12. Hard questions these. But the diffi- 
culty vanishes when men begin to be animated by the 
spirit of piety and true religion. 

13. I do not think our people are sufficiently 
instructed on the dangers and responsibilities involved 
in the possession of property. Most people seem to 
have no notion of any danger or responsibility at all. 

II. 

1. (b.) There might, perhaps, be a better adaptation, 
(d.) Not unless in authorizing the chanting of prose 

Psalms. 

(e.) There are sometimes occasions, when the use of 
our entire service by missionaries is a little awkward ; 
but the awkwardness ceases as soon as there are a 
few to join in the responses. 

2. I think exclusively by the General Convention, 
which can easily adapt the conditions to local neces- 
sities. 

22 



254 The Memorial Papers. 

3. (a. b.) I think neither as to time nor conformity. 

4. None. 

5. None. 

7. I think it very desirable. 

8. If it 3gan be done as a part of the parochial 
system, in co-operation with the pastor, and under the 
Bishop, I should regard it as very desirable. 

I end as I began, by iterating the opinion that it is 
not so much new plans, schemes, and changes, in our 
existing system, that is to make the Church effective — 
as the infusing a new spirit into our people. The 
temper of the times is as hostile to the spirit of true 
religion as it can be, and leave us Christians. The 
great body of our people are at ease — satisfied to have 
a valid ministry, and valid Sacraments, and a sober 
Liturgy, and a conservative ecclesiastical system. 
And the rest of the world have no evidence that we 
care very much about them. We are very Apostolic 
in books and on paper. If we were a little more 
Apostolic in religious earnestness, self-denial, good 
works, and concern for the salvation of our fellow 
men, I think the Memorial would be answered. 

My hope has been, and my prayer is, that this may 
be its result. 

Henry Gregory. 

March, 1855. 



DR. HOWE'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Right Reverend Dr. Potter, Bishof of the Diocese 
of Pennsylvania. 

My Dear Bishop : — 

Having affixed my name to a Memorial which was 
laid before the House of Bishops in October last, and 
having been informed that the Committee to whom it 
was referred are about to meet for its consideration, 
I trust that you, a member of that Commission, will 
not consider it impertinent in me to add, in a private 
communication, a few thoughts which have occurred 
to me in connexion with this important subject. 
Having been through my whole ministry (now of more 
than twenty-two years' continuance) in a position 
to observe the relation of our Church to the middling 
and low r er classes as they are found in and around 
great cities, I cannot forbear the confession, that we 
do not, by the authorized appliances of the Church, 
reach and interest them. Individuals of these classes, 
by the force of early association, or a refinement of 

(255) 



256 The Memorial Papers. 

taste unusual in their sphere, do retain or acquire a 
strong attachment to our worship, and derive unspeak- 
able benefits from its use. But the fact is too 
glaring to be denied, that mechanics and labouring 
men are not in any considerable numbers reckoned 
among our people ; and pastors, who will expose the 
truth in this behalf, must confess that of those who 
are reared among us to these industrial pursuits, very 
many desert the Church, and find religious associa- 
tions more acceptable to them among other denomi- 
nations. This is too general to be attributed to the 
unfaithfulness of ministers. There must be some 
lack in the system of means under which such dis- 
astrous issues occur. 

I do not believe, sir, that the difficulty lies in the 
organization of the Church, which I hold to be divine, 
and therefore fully adapted to its Catholic purposes ; 
nor in the fact that we have a Liturgical worship, 
proved to be best by the experience of the godly in 
all ages ; but in the unvarying, and (in the esteem of 
many) invariable use of our forms, and other usages 
of worship. The Church has a feast of fat things 
spread out in her costly guest-chambers, but she does 
not send out homely messages, by the hands of lowly 
servants, into the lanes, and highways, and hedges 
to compel the poor and the blind to come in. There 
is a mode of worship required — initiatory, if you 
please, to the more stately service of the sanctuary — 
and a class of ministers to conduct it, that can find 
the people in their own neighbourhoods, and catch 



Dr. Howe's Communication. 257 

without taxing their attention. These two ends are, 
I conceive, contemplated in the Memorial before you. 
It suggests a relaxation in the rigid sameness of our 
worship, authorizing a discreet adaptation of it to 
whatever place and circumstance. In this, the less 
prominent feature of the Memorial, I feel the more 
immediate interest. 

It suggests, also, a movement towards Church unity, 
by providing for the bestowal of holy orders on godly 
men who will not in all things conform to our stand- 
ard of worship and discipline ; but will probably, 
without such authorization, undertake to minister in 
holy things. I think there are many good men, who 
will not go through with all the preparatory training 
of our clergy, nor come into full subjection to our 
economy, who would be glad to have Episcopal orders, 
the legitimacy of which alone is unquestioned ; and 
that the granting of such license would go far to dis- 
arm prejudice, and to prompt the inquiry whether 
there is really anything imposed by the Church which 
a Christian man is justified in resisting. It seems to 
me, my dear Bishop, that independency has in this 
country about run its course, and demonstrated its 
dangers, intrinsic and incidental ; and that this is the 
juncture, when some overture from that Church which 
is everywhere known, and secretly honoured as the 
centre of scriptural conservatism, would be received 
and, widely accepted. 

The Church may be entirely Catholic in her doc- 
trine and polity, yet she can never be practically so 

22* 



258 The Memorial Papers. 

while she requires all men to worship everywhere in 
precisely the same forms, and under the conduct of 
ministers educated alike, for intercourse with the most 
refined and intellectual; and habited in the same 
official garments. I long to see all the people of God 
united under one comprehensive organization, which 
all shall acknowledge as the Church Catholic and 
Apostolic, and yet, with sufficient liberty in modes 
of worship to be all edified and happy in their fellow- 
ship. 

And the advance for unity, I humbly conceive, 
ought to be made by the Church herself, w^ho has 
something valuable to give. It might be more just 
for her to wait until they who have gone out from her 
return and sue for readmittance ; but it would be 
more Christ-like, more in the genius of her mission, 
as the Lord's representative among men, to go out to 
them and offer the gifts wherewith she is intrusted. 
It may be that the sectarian spirit is still in many 
quarters so bitter and repellent, that this concession 
from the Church of our love would be hurled back 
with scoffing. But it is uncharitable to assume that 
it is ; and even if it be, it is none the less desirable 
to win those who are not imbued with such a spirit ; 
and, if all were so, the Church may repose more con- 
fidently in the assurance of her Lord's approval, when 
she has abated every possible hindrance to the unity 
of His people, and has cast out the sin of schism, to 
be cherished and perpetuated among them only who 
will not grasp in fraternal love her extended hand. 



Dr. Howe's Communication. 259 

I presume not, right reverend and dear sir, to 
propose any plan for the execution of the objects 
contemplated in the Memorial before you. It is now 
in the hands of Fathers in the Church, of large expe- 
rience and distinguished practical wisdom. If nothing 
more can be done to give pliancy to the worship of 
the Church, and to fit it for the shifting and diverse 
circumstances of the American people, I trust that at 
least there may proceed from the House of Bishops 
a recommendation to the several Diocesans to set 
forth forms of prayer for use in their respective juris- 
dictions, adapted to various occasions and places, 
other than those provided for in the " Book of Com- 
mon Prayer." The end desired, to wit, the retention 
of "the common people" in the fellowship of the 
Church, is surely of very grave importance, and 
worthy of some concession, and some sacrifice of 
taste and feeling. Your Presbyters, in the immediate 
care of souls, are painfully impressed with the need 
of some action, which shall give us some supplement- 
ary instrumentalities, or teach us to use more effectu- 
ally those we already have. The method in which 
Apostolic Orders can be more liberally conferred on 
those who will devote themselves to the ministry of 
the word, I shall not venture even to surmise. It is 
a subject too much involved to justify an individual 
in fashioning any scheme by himself, without consul- 
tation, and intruding it upon the notice of others. 
Much less would it become a Presbyter to offer his 
crudities of opinion upon a matter so peculiarly under 



2G0 The Memorial Papers, 

the cognisance and in the control of those who bear 
the Episcopal office. 

Allow me to say, in conclusion, that the Church is 
waiting with the deepest interest, and most implicit 
confidence, the result of the deliberations of that wise 
and reverend Commission to whom this earnest and 
portentous .document has been referred. Invoking 
upon you, my dear Bishop, and your right reverend 
associates, the wisdom which cometh from above, I 
remain, 

With cordial respect and affection, 

Tour dutiful son in the Church of Christ, 
M. A. De Wolfe Howe. 

June 24, 1854. 



REV. DR. LEWIS' COMMUNICATION. 



Question I. 

1. It seems to me questionable, whether Theologi- 
cal Seminaries, as usually conducted, are not detri- 
mental in their influence upon the piety and practical 
efficiency of our young men preparing for the Ministry. 

Students in them are apt to become partisans — to 
have their heads filled with Church politics — and so 
to neglect the culture of the heart's holiest affections, 
that many a young man has graduated with less of 
piety than when he entered. Practical experience is 
too much dissevered from study. Little attention is 
paid by the Professors to the cultivation of devotional 
habits in the students. It is with great reluctance 
that a license for lay-reading is given, though any 
other layman in good standing is encouraged to read 
in a destitute parish. Students in every other pro- 
fession, in becoming fitted for it, combine, to a greater 
degree, practice and theory, as, for instance, medical 
students, who see much of hospital and other practice. 

(261) 



262 The Memorial Papers. 

Professors, not themselves engaged in the active duties 
of the ministry, sink the minister in the scholar, and 
so are unfitted to send forth practical men. What 
student of medicine would study with a retired physi- 
cian, or what clerk learn mercantile affairs with a 
merchant not in business? No doubt seminaries 
might have a great advantage over every other course 
of theological training, did they combine more of the 
practical knowledge of the duties of the ministry 
with the theoretical. As now conducted, they give 
too much of a mere continuation of the academic 
course. 

Theological Seminaries, cut all to the one pattern 
of a favourite system, whether Evangelical, Sacra- 
mentarian, New School, Old School, or German Theo- 
logical — so that it may be known, by hearing one 
sermon, from what seminary a preacher graduated. 
Give to one man whatever text you will, he leads you 
to man's depravity and justification by faith, while 
another on the same text will bring in the Church, the 
Ministry, the Sacraments. Now if theology were 
learned in connexion with visits among Sabbath- 
breakers, drunkards, lovers of pleasure, errorists of 
all sorts, the real necessities of men would be forced 
upon the attention, and the Gospel remedy brought 
to mind, and instead of systems we should have wants 
met by the Gospel of Christ. 

There were schools of the Prophets under the Old 
Testament, but the young men accompanied the Pro- 
phets in their labours and visits through the land. 



Dr. Lewis' Communication. 263 

Timothy, and others in the New Testament, learned 
theology while journeying with Missionary Apostles. 

Ministers who in early life have been brought 
most into contact with their fellow men, in all sorts 
of situations, will generally be found to be most suc- 
cessful ; therefore, that contact would be helpful in 
the training for the ministry. 

Theological Seminaries, among other denominations 
in this country, have been fruitful sources of error 
and division. 

The Church of England has done very well without 
seminaries. 

Had I a son preparing for the ministry, who had 
already had a good academic discipline, I should be 
inclined to think he might study theology to the bes-t 
advantage with some rector of a parish whose own 
labours testified that he had found the secret of suc- 
cess, and who, with study, would employ him as far 
as a layman could go in missionary or pastoral duty, 
or, better still, who would procure for him deacon's 
orders, under the new canon, and keep him two or 
three years in that position acquiring the theoretical 
and practical knowledge of his profession. Or, I 
should regard a situation for him with a bishop who 
would direct his studies, and send him forth in occa- 
sional missionary duty, or take him with him in his 
visitations, as very desirable. 

It is proverbial, that no sermon written in a semi- 
nary was ever fit to be preached. What a proof of 
defect somewhere ? Who would ever make a master 



264 The Memorial Papers. 

workman, that had never in his apprenticeship turned 
off anything in his line fit for use ? Why should a 
man, with one month's experience in a parish, so im- 
prove in sermonizing, that his best efforts in the semi- 
nary should be cast aside as worthless ? If a month's 
experience works such a change, why not give him a 
little more of that experience in his seminary course ? 

4. In almost every parish there can be found at 
least one man so respected for piety, and so respecta- 
able for all other qualifications, as to be able to fill 
well the office of a deacon. Let him be ordained. 
He can greatly relieve the rector in his seasons of 
physical weakness, by taking a part of the service ; 
he can relieve the congregation on Communion days 
by helping in the Communion ; and he can superintend 
the Sunday School, visit the sick, and distribute alms 
to the poor, to greater advantage, clothed with such 
an official character. 

Let me state my own position. With my long con- 
tinuance in the ministry, I may well be expected to 
be always prepared for preaching, and am so, and 
wish no assistance in that duty save such as I receive 
from visiters and exchanges. Parochial duty falls on 
me, and would, if I had many assistants. My actual 
want of help then is, simply for some one to take part 
of the service, especially in the morning, and assist 
in the Communion. To meet this want I have now 
a presbyter who might, if relieved, have charge of 
a parish, with greater advantage to himself and to 
the Church. Give me one or two deacons upon whom 



Dr. Lewis' Communication. 265 

I could call for the aid I need, and my presbyter 
assistant might be relieved. And I could also find 
ample room for any services of my deacons that I 
could spare, in Mission Sunday Schools, or in opening 
places for worship among the poorer localities of the 
city, where, under my oversight, new Churches might 
in time spring up. 

We have now, virtually, but two orders in the 
ministry. 

Next to the enlarged influences of the Holy Spirit, 
among things desirable for our Church, is a free ordi- 
nation under our new Canon respecting deacons. It 
would draw out and employ talent now lost to us, 
relieve pastors,, and supply the higher ranks of the 
ministry with the very best recruits, such as had been 
already well tried in a preparatory discipline. Let 
there be free ordination, and such as are incompetent 
for anything more, will remain at their own level, 
while such as have used the office well, may purchase 
to themselves a good degree. If we had had this 
Canon in years past, we should not only have gained 
good men for the higher ranks, but we should have 
been spared some unworthy accessions to them from 
those who would h#ve remained deacons all their 
days, had it not been considered almost obligatory to 
advance to the priesthood after one year. We should 
have saved, too, in another way, for many have been 
ordained to the priesthood, intending to devote them- 
selves to teaching, professorships, editorial labours, 
&c, which seem almost a violation of ordination vows, 

23 



266 Tiie Memorial Papers. 

while they would be perfectly consistent with the new 
Canon. 

Ought not Deacons to be the most numerous of the 
orders of Ministry ? One High Priest — one family 
of Priests — thousands of Levites — one Lord Jesus, 
the Great Bishop of souls — twelve Apostles — seventy 
Deacons — seven Deacons in the Church at Jerusalem. 

7. Multiplying services does not tend to increase 
piety. Their increase is often a mark of spiritual de- 
cline, as in the Jewish Church, when God said, " to 
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto 
me?" And in the Church of Rome, which outvies all 
others in services and sins. Multiplying services as 
a remedy for our wants, would be as multiplying meals 
to a sick man, who has already perhaps too many, 
and who needs rather to have those he already has 
made more simple and nourishing. We need earnest 
prayers for the influence of God's Spirit. " Wilt 
thou not turn again and quicken us, that thy people 
may rejoice in thee ?" 

I do not see how the same church edifice can be 
occupied by more than one congregation. Each 
swarm needs its own hive, and new hives must be built 
for the increase. The Romanists have three sets of 
pew-holders to a pew, but one service satisfies with 
them, and to kneel towards the Church in the streets 
would content them, and they know nothing of many 
things essential to Protestant worship. So that they 
are no models for us. 

8. In the Church of the Holy Trinity, we have, 1. 



Dr. Lewis' Communication. 267 

An infant class for such as cannot read. 2. A Sun- 
day School proper into which infant scholars are ad- 
vanced. 3. Two Bible classes, male and female, to 
take those who feel themselves too old for the Sunday 
School, but who may there become matured to act as 
teachers, so that the circle is complete. 

A teachers' meeting, it seems to me, may be so en- 
larged, as to bring in many not engaged in teaching, 
giving them a gathering place where they may form 
pleasant Christian acquaintances ; where strangers in 
our cities may be introduced and find preservatives 
from temptation ; where aggressive movements on sur- 
rounding ungodliness may find helpers, and where 
that point which Church brotherhoods, of which I 
have no good opinion, vainly strive to meet, may be 
supplied. I am trying such a plan. 

9. The laity may be encouraged to labour, in our 
Church, without any great danger of nourishing a 
spirit of insubordination to the clergy, so prevalent 
and hateful in Congregationalism. The whole bent 
of our institutions is against mobocracy ; and rarely 
has there been a case where a rector has had to com- 
plain of being trampled upon by his people. Now, 
they are too much excluded — not from legislation, 
not by constitutional provisions, but by usage and 
actual practice, from co-operation in efforts to save 
souls. Send them to converse with the neglectors of 
God — call them into council in missionary and chari- 
table operations — urge them to social and united 
prayers for Christ's cause, and we should see the city 



2(38 The Memorial Papers. 

of our God made glad, as by a new and refreshing 
stream. 

11. Show special interest in young men — recognise 
them, employ them, ask heads of families to open 
doors of hospitality to them, where refined social 
intercourse, sanctified by religion, may elevate, 
purify, and save them. It is a great advantage to a 
single, unpolished, inexperienced young man, pos- 
sessing great susceptibilities for improvement, with 
corresponding facilities for temptation and error, to 
have free and kindly access to one truly intelligent 
Christian household. I have seen gems of beauty 
and worth cut out by such a process, from unpromis- 
ing rough- ashlars, that might have otherwise lain 
neglected and useless. 

13. Bring the laity to examine the field, and to take 
part in the work of supplying its destitution. Sad 
was the blow given to the missionary spirit among us, 
by that resolve of our General Convention, which made 
every baptized Churchman a member of our Mis- 
sionary Society. Before that day, voluntary associa- 
tions were springing up in every parish, that show 
forth the interest, strength, contributions, and prayers 
of the laity ; but all died at a blow, and nothing has 
ever yet appeared to make good their loss. 

II. 

1. — Answer. Yes ; most decidedly. 

(a.) By dividing, not leaving out anything from the 



Dr. Lewis' Communication. 269 

Prayer Book, but letting it be discretionary to use 
one, two, or all of our three services for the morning. 

A former Congregational minister, now a candidate 
for orders in our Church, said to me, recently, that 
he claimed to know something of the feelings of out- 
siders towards our Church ; and that he believed the 
great length of the service was the great bar to our 
progress among them ; that it was not a Liturgical 
service that was objected to ; that our form of govern- 
ment would be hailed by a great many as a happy 
relief from the tyranny of volunteer bishops, one or 
two of whom might be found in every consociation ; 
but that the division and shortening of the service, he 
was convinced, would do more than anything else to 
make our Church acceptable to those without her 
pale. 

So wide spread is the same feeling among ourselves, 
that it seems as if a discretionary power of shorten- 
ing the service must be conceded. For myself I 
should never ask it — and have never used even the 
liberty which some do already take, and perhaps 
never should use that which might be conceded. 
But why should I be a law to others ? Why should 
as good, or better Churchmen, who ask this conces- 
sion, and will not abuse it, have it denied? Why 
should not a top-bar be let down to those disposed to 
come in to our rich pastures, if they cannot climb 
over it ; and if it be not one that Christ put up, but 
one that the Church has made and intended to be 
movable ? 

23 # 



270 The Memorial Papers. 

(c.) By altering the preface in the Confirmation 
office ; giving a prayer for missions ; for the increase 
of ministers ; for Sunday Schools ; for travellers by 
land, with thanksgiving for safe return ; by striking 
out the rubric forbidding the Burial Service to be 
used over unbaptized adults ; for if the service be only 
for the living, why make any discrimination ? if it be 
for the dead, why use it over a baptized infidel or 
drunkard, and refuse it to a Quaker, or an over- 
scrupulous or late repenting member of our own con- 
gregation? It is now a trap and snare to-the clergy, 
without any manner of use to the people ; for no one 
was ever driven to baptism by the fear of burial 
without the service. The punishment falls on the 
clergy and surviving friends. 

3. Yes, in my opinion. 

(a.) As to time and qualifications, I have known not 
a few, in my day, among the Methodists, who have 
looked wistfully and long towards our ministry, but 
were kept back by the high standard of literary 
acquirements demanded, and the expense and time 
required in preparing for it. Some of them I have 
helped into our ministry, where they are now success- 
fully labouring. Others have not had courage for the 
attempt. It was only yesterday I heard from one 
who had formerly been a Methodist minister, of two 
in that ministry who would gladly come into ours, and 
he said he knew it to be the position of a great many 
more. Why not give to our Bishops discretionary 
power to shorten the time, and dispense with certain 



Dr. Lewis' Communication. 271 

requirements of the Canon ? One who has brought 
his mind up to the point of asking orders from our 
Bishops, must have usually passed through a long pre- 
paratory process, and become well settled in his Church 
views, ere he could take that step, for it is painful in 
the extreme. Why test his sincerity and attachment 
to our principles any further, when he has given the 
best proof of both by that which is as a death-struggle 
to one of any feeling, — the renunciation of all his old 
friends and ways ? Saul of Tarsus might with as 
much propriety have been kept back from baptism 
and the ministry. Here is a neighbour of mine, of the 
Congregational Church, possessing one of the most 
gifted minds in the country ; who is supposed to be the 
author of a series of articles in the Independent in 
favour of a Liturgical service ; who is urging upon his 
people the use of the Lord's Prayer, and the recital 
of the Creed every Sunday, and also of the Ten 
Commandments, and, by various other movements, 
showing a tendency towards the Church ; why not set 
open to such an one the door of entrance, by allowing 
an abbreviation of the service, and an immediate 
admission to our ministry, so that, if he and his 
people chose, they could at once be numbered among 
us ? An uncle of mine renounced the Congregational 
ministry, and seventy of his families followed him at 
once into our fold, forming an Episcopal Church which 
yet remains (more than half a century), where before 
there was none. Such things might oftener be wit- 
nessed, did we offer more facilities. Does any denomi- 



272 The Memorial Papers. 

nation offer fewer ? Would it encourage desertion, to 
put deserters on short allowance, treat them with a 
show of suspicion, and not allow them, till after long 
trial, to enter the ranks ? 

5. That disposition might exist to a great degree, 
and yet pride of sect would keep it from being mani- 
fested, except where it had risen to a determination 
to sacrifice all, and come among us. That it does 
exist more largely than appears on the surface, we 
may well conclude from the numbers that have brought 
themselves to the resolution to make the change, from 
their testimony with regard to the feelings of those 
they have left behind, and from the oft-repeated 
remark of eminent ministers and men among those of 
other names, " If I were to live my life over again, 
with my present views, I would be an Episcopalian.' \ 

By opening the door more widely to those favourably 
disposed to our Church, we must not fear lest we 
should gather in those who would eventually break 
down its distinctive principles ; for experience shows 
that such converts are apt to be more zealous for them 
than old Churchmen. I have always cautioned such 
persons against extreme churchmanship. 

The history of errorists in religion shows that, at a 
certain stage of maturity, they divide into two parts, 
one going to a wilder extreme, and the other returning 
to orthodoxy, as among Friends, Unitarians, &c. By 
setting open the door freely, we should gain the best 
part of those of other names — the conservative, the 
quiet — while the radicals, &c, would not be disposed 



Dr. Lewis' Communication. 273 

to come among us, but wax worse and worse, till they 
become extinct in their own corruption. 

If none of the above thoughts prove worthy of con- 
sideration, they will, at least, show an interest in that 
great work the Committee have in hand. God guide 
them to happy results ! 






DR. MUHLENBERG'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Kt. Key. Bishop Otey, Chairman of the Commission 
of Bishops. 

Right Reverend and Dear Sir : — 

Allow me to say a few words in regard to niy 
recent letter, which I ventured publicly to address to 
yourself. 

Great has been my surprise at the comments which 
it has called forth in various and opposite quarters. 
I fondly hoped that the dread which was expressed 
of mischief to the Church, lurking in the vague 
terms of the Memorial, would be quite allayed, when 
distinct statements were put forth of " what the 
memorialists want" — so reasonable and moderate did 
I deem them, and such I am persuaded they would 
be generally deemed, were they calmly and candidly 
considered. Instead of that, or of any temperate dis- 
cussion of the several points at issue, there has been 
a rejection of the whole, and in language so denuncia- 
tory that I can account for it only by supposing that 

(274) 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 275 

its authors, having made up their minds beforehand, did 
not care to construe fairly, much less charitably, what 
they felt bound to condemn. Such is not the way to 
treat views and sentiments bearing on the interests of 
the Church, entertained by her acknowledged well- 
wishers, and honestly exhibited for her good. To 
brand them as "mischievous," " revolutionary,' ' 
" heretical," &c, is scarcely enough. Something 
like proof should be attempted. The minds of the 
Commission, I trust, will not be affected by this unfair 
dealing — rather I would hope it will dispose them to 
a more careful impartiality in weighing considerations 
assailed less by argument than by opprobrious and 
contemptuous words. The wishes of the memorialists 
are set down under the four following heads. 

1. A repeal of the concluding clause of 45th Canon. 

2. The addition of a clause to that Canon, declar- 
ing that it applies only to the public services in 
regularly organized congregations. 

3. Some action by the Bishops which will authorize 
them in their respective Dioceses to grant certain dis- 
pensations in the use of the forms for Morning and 
Evening Prayer. 

4. The appointment of a permanent Episcopal 
Commission on Church Unity. 

Now which one of these four requests, I humbly 
submit, is so extravagant, or so hostile to any principle 
of the Church, as not to deserve a hearing ? If any 
of them can be thought so monstrous, I suppose it 
must be the first : viz. that which asks for a repeal of 



276 The Memorial Papers. 

the prohibitory clause of 45th Canon : " In perform- 
ing said service no other prayers shall be used," &c. 
In urging this, several arguments are adduced and 
dwelt upon with the earnestness which the subject 
naturally inspires. To all which the reply is that our 
object is to set aside the Liturgy — that in place of its 
sublime and venerable forms, we would substitute the 
crude effusions of ignorance and fanaticism — that it is 
marvellous when some of the most respectable Christ- 
ian bodies around us are for returning to their 
Liturgies, we should be for abandoning ours. How 
comes this extraordinary perversion of our petition ? 
Is it undesigned misapprehension? Have we ex- 
pressed ourselves with such an unfortunate ambiguity ? 
We have said in words, as plain as words can be, 
that it is not the prescriptions of the Canon, but its 
proscription, at which we demur. We have not 
written — we could have no heart to write — an iota in 
disparagement of the Prayer Book. Most emphati- 
cally have we expressed ourselves to the contrary — 
and if we have not said more, it has been because it 
seemed idle to be avowing our poor admiration of 
what has commended itself to the love and veneration 
of some of the holiest men that ever lived. What 
would our appreciation be worth (particularly in the 
cant phrase in vogue) of prayers that were good 
enough for Usher, Hooker, Hall, and saints like 
them, stars in our calendar? Following these great 
and good men (at least those of them whose sentiments 
and practice on the point in question we know), we see 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 277 

no incompatibility in praying according to a Liturgy, 
with freedom in further praying, so far as from time 
to time there is need. Such is the freedom we ask. 
The Canon, as it now stands, denies it to us. We 
ask that its restraint may be removed. But what has 
that to do with the "tampering with," or the under- 
valuing of, the Liturgy, with which we are charged ? 
Can we be answered only by misrepresentation? 
Can men disprove the reasonableness of what we ask, 
only by showing up the unreasonableness of what we 
do not ask ? Suffer me a few words more on this 
point. I shall not dwell so long upon any one of the 
remaining three. 

In this matter of liberty of prayer, we are contend- 
ing for the free exercise of the right of petition. 
Prayer is petition to God. The united prayer of the 
assemblies of the faithful is the most availing petition. 
The right of such petition to God, we cannot have 
circumscribed ; we claim it in its fullest and largest 
extent. So far as we can exercise it in the words 
provided for us, we are content to do it. We delight 
to do it. We ask no better words — but whatever be 
their excellence, they are the vehicle of but the com- 
mon wants of all and on ordinary occasions — and 
these general wants indeed make up the great burden 
of all public prayer. But besides them there are 
private local and peculiar wants ; there are the neces- 
sities of extraordinary occasions, of times and circum- 
stances, for which no adequate expression can be 
anticipated ; yet which a sense of our own needs, or 

24 



278 The Memorial Papers. 

sympathy with our brethren, or concern for our neigh- 
bours, or our interest in the community at large, will 
prompt us to bring before the Hearer of prayer, when 
gathered before Him for the purpose of prayer. In 
this we cannot be let or hindered. The right of peti- 
tion implies the right to present our petition in what- 
ever form we will. You must not dictate the words 
for us. You cannot do it any more than you can 
dictate our feelings and desires. Out of the abund- 
ance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and it must not 
be restrained from speaking when it listeth, in words 
of its own. You cannot always be the mouth-piece 
of the heart, either of the individual or of the con- 
gregation when bowed together as one man under 
some unusual pressure before the mercy seat. Then 
words flow apace. They may or may not be the 
words of the book. They may lack its chaste and 
beautiful phrase, yet they may be the words in 
season — the best of all words for the time. Taste is 
not the first rule for prayer. Taste is for the capri- 
cious ears of man — not for the gracious ears of the 
All Merciful. St. Paul seems not afraid of our violat- 
ing it, when he bids us to come to the throne of grace 
loldly — literally with free spokenness, with liberty of 
speech. May any ecclesiastical legislation fence in 
the privilege which the Apostle has left w^ide open ? 
The highest authority which the Church can plead for 
ritual enactments, is the divine prescription of the 
Lord's Prayer. But let not the sanction of that pre- 
scription be pushed too Far. Our Lord gave one set 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 279 

form — He did not forbid all other forms. Rather 
while He enjoined a literal use of that (so let it be 
assumed), He designed it to be the model of other 
prayers. " Thus pray ye" — not only in these words, 
but let them be the sum and substance of all your 
prayers. So the Church has understood her Lord. 
She enjoins His prayer verbatim in each of her offices, 
and adds farther prayers in accordance with it. The 
whole Liturgy may be regarded as a development of 
the Lord's Prayer. To say this is its highest eulogy. 
But let not the Church claim more for her develop- 
ment than her Lord has done for His original. As 
He did not say in these words, and these alone ye 
shall pray, so let not her make that exclusive demand 
for the forms which she has wrought out from those 
words. Let her not claim for her half-inspired com- 
positions, more than is claimed by its Author for the 
composition wholly inspired. As if the Liturgy had 
exhausted the Lord's Prayer, let her not proceed 'to 
put a seal on our lips in a syllable beyond. Let her 
Liturgy answer the double purpose of the Lord's 
Prayer — a set form and a directory of devotion. The 
Canon forbids its use as a directory, and so far 
diminishes its practical value. This is not to follow 
the example of the Master — it is to exceed it. Unlike 
Him, His Church — no ! the Canon, which is an ex- 
crescence on the Church — says, Thus and thus only 
shall ye pray. Cut off the excrescence. Let the 
Church be content to exercise no more exclusive pre- 
rogative than her Master ; and from Him let her learn 



280 The Memorial Papers. 

to teach her members, especially her ministers, ay He 
taught His disciples. 

We shall come to a clear understanding of our sub- 
ject by considering what the Liturgy is, and what it is 
not. It is the solemn oblation of prayer and praise 
to the Almighty by the Church, in her corporate 
capacity. It is the perpetual offering on her altars, 
from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the 
same. Hence, its materials should be from the richest 
and purest in her storehouses of devotions. It should 
be the fine gold, the frankincense and myrrh of the wis- 
dom and piety of ages. Changes or additions should 
not be made, save for grave and weighty reasons, 
which can be but of rare occurrence. Since the Church, 
as a whole, continues the same from age to age, and 
He, to whom she brings her offerings, changes never 
— the Liturgy is the grand objective service of the 
Church, and, therefore, in its degree and kind, should 
be like the Divine object to which it looks — the same 
yesterday, to-day, and for ever. To subject it then to 
the mind of individual officiators, or of particular con- 
gregations, to make it consist of extemporaneous offer- 
ings, must be to lower and mar its character, and 
would evince ignorance of its nature and design — 
would be to substitute the crude and evanescent for 
what has stood the test of centuries. Such is the" 
Liturgy — the united voice of the Church ascending 
in the Confessions and Misereres, the Te Deums and 
Litanies, common to all her members. That which 
the Liturgy is not, cannot, from its very nature, be, 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 281 

is the expression of wants and feelings peculiar to an 
individual member, or to a certain number of individual 
members, of the Church. Our Liturgy has no utter- 
ance for what they would utter as individuals. It 
knows nothing of their particular wants or experience. 
But then, shall these never have leave to vent them- 
selves in the sanctuary ? Shall these be denied an 
utterance ? Shall private griefs and joys be kept in 
abeyance, and be commanded to be still, in the house 
of prayer and praise ? In the Communion office, 
which is eminently the Liturgy, shall not the absent, 
the sick, the dying communicant be permitted to send 
in his petitions to his pastor and brethren to be offered 
by them amid the sacred mysteries, when intercessions, 
we may believe, are most availing ? The Liturgy does 
not forbid that. It is not so cold-hearted. It would 
pause, so to speak, in its general office, to give oppor- 
tunity to the single supplicant. It stops for the 
preacher to go into his sermon ; and, when prayer is 
connected with it, why should it not also stop for him 
as a merciful and compassionate priest — pleading with 
God in such words as he can, and as best suit the case, 
for the poor brother or sister, who begs to be remem- 
bered as present in spirit at the sacred feast. Let the 
Liturgy be considered the common voice of the whole 
Church, and special prayers as the voice of particular 
congregations; we shall then hear no more of our dis- 
honouring the former by asking free liberty in the 
latter. Here it occurs to me to say that, if the words 
in the Canon, "the said service," be authoritatively 

24* 



282 The Memorial Papers. 

interpreted to refer to the Liturgy, as distinguished 
from special prayers, our object would be attained. It 
would be tantamount to repealing that clause of the 
Canon; and, perhaps, the most unobjectionable mode 
of doing it. 

One word more in regard to special or occasional 
prayers. It is now generally admitted that we need a 
considerable increase. In the course of the discussion 
on the Memorial in our Church papers, almost all the 
writers have granted that much ; and many of them have 
enumerated subjects for which prayers and thanksgiv- 
ings are much to be desired. Suppose, then, that all 
these subjects could be anticipated (which, of course, 
is impossible), and that we had nearly a century of all 
imaginable forms, ready to be appended to our present 
collection, are we quite sure that they would be alto- 
gether fit to be so appended ? What committee would 
undertake to prepare so large addition to the Prayer 
Book, to be permanently incorporated with its con- 
tents ? Whose compositions, in so wide a range, would 
be worthy to be made part and parcel with the ritual ? 
Verily, they who propose this, honour the Prayer 
Book far less than ourselves, who would leave it as it 
is, and at the same time leave the minister, on extra- 
ordinary occasions, to the best of his ability. Are 
we to presume that he has no ability ? Ability not 
exercised is apt to be lost; and that, indeed, in the 
matter in question, may be more or less the case with 
us Episcopal ministers, who, from long disuse, might 
be slow in gaining free expression in public prayer. 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 283 

Is it not a freeness that should be gained ? We 
acknowledge a gift in preaching to be cultivated. Is 
there no such thing in praying ? By adopting the 
course proposed, i. e., refraining from making additions 
to the Prayer Book, and not restraining the minister 
when moved to lift up his voice to Heaven, two sacred 
trusts will be kept unimpaired — the Liturgy, and 
that more sacred still, the liberty wherewith Christ 
hath made us free. 

For that liberty, in the privilege here asserted, we 
shall continue to sue until it be obtained. We cannot 
rest content in a disfranchisement which affects not 
only ourselves, but our congregations ; for they can 
never engage in united prayer beyond the bounds of 
the ritual, as long as their spokesmen are thus bound. 
Thus it is the liberty of the people, as well as of the 
priest, for which we pray. I trust that measures will 
be taken to make it the subject of a special petition 
to the next General Convention, in a form in which it 
cannot be evaded. True, the petition may come from 
but a minority, a small minority ; yet minorities have 
rights. Let it be remembered that the right we ask 
is for ourselves ; we would impose nothing on others — 
we would put no bar to their pursuing their way — w T e 
beg only that the bar may be removed from ours. 
Content for themselves with the measure of freedom 
they enjoy, in order to our contentment we ask a 
somewhat larger measure. They kindly tell us, indeed, 
that it is not for our good — that the restraint under 
which we are impatient is a wholesome restraint — that 



284 The Memorial Papers, 

from a tender and brotherly interest in us, they can- 
not release it. But if it does not agree with us ; if 
the confinement we think is not for our health ; and 
further, if we promise that with our enlarged liberties 
we will not molest them, we see not why, minority as 
we are, that we should be unheard. At any rate, let 
the next General Convention settle the question 
whether a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
may never open his mouth in prayer, in his own sanc- 
tuary, with and for his own flock, save in the liter a 
scripta of the Book ; and let Christendom be apprised 
of the fact. So much for the first of the wants of the 
memorialists. If to satisfy it would revolutionize the 
Church, she must be in a rather precarious condition. 
There should be more than a bit of a solitary Canon 
for her defence. 

The second item of our wants is that the Canon, in 
enjoining the use of the Book of Common Prayer, be 
declared to apply only to the duly organized congre- 
gations of the Church. The reasonableness of this is 
obvious, since it only proposes to remove the interdict 
of law from what is already extensively practised of 
necessity, and against which the law is never enforced ; 
in other words, to cancel a dead letter law. For such, 
in the premises, we are assured it is. In answer to 
the absurdities we have exhibited of missionaries pro- 
ceeding at once with the Prayer Book, in new regions 
of country, and among people unchristianized ; w T e 
have been told on all sides that, whenever it is done, 
it is a gratuitous absurdity ; that the Canon was never 



Dn. Muhlenberg's Communication. 285 

meant to impose the Liturgy on such occasions. Very- 
well. Since that is understood, let it also be de- 
clared, — which is all we ask. If in this we are revo- 
lutionary, all the mischief we should do is already 
done. 

The third of our requests is some action among the 
Bishops, whereby they will feel authorized to grant 
certain dispensations in the celebration of Morning 
and Evening Prayer ; chiefly with the view to a more 
marked and devout observance of the Ecclesiastical 
Year. 

This is so entirely in the Church line, that our 
brethren, on one side at least, might have been calcu- 
lated on in its favour. That they have not cared to 
commend it, or to make it an exception in their 
general condemnation, is significant of the indis- 
criminate prejudice with which the whole movement 
is regarded. 

The desired action recognises the ancient preroga- 
tive of Bishops to regulate the worship of their Dio- 
ceses ; and the dispensing powers w T hich it would have 
them exercise, is for a purpose that must be dear to 
every Churchman — the bringing out in stronger relief 
the diversified round of the festivals and fasts. In 
what respect the Church would thereby be damaged, 
it is difficult to foresee. Should there be a jealousy 
of the extension of Episcopal power, let it be observed, 
that it is rather for loosing than for binding ; not for 
diminishing, but enlarging the range of service, within 
the order of the Liturgy. The lowest Churchman 



286 The Memorial Papers. 

need not fear the development of Episcopal functions 
in that direction. Suppose that, by the desired agree- 
ment among the Bishops, we should have the succes- 
sive seasons of the Church Year illustrated by proper 
Prefaces, Canticles, Psalms, and Hymns; what but 
good could come of the increased interest which would 
thus be imparted to that which, next to the ancient 
Creeds, is the surest safeguard of the faith ? Were 
we once used to a series of services, in beautiful and 
instructive vicissitude, we should wonder how we could 
ever have done without it. Whatever change this 
would involve, the materials for it being already in the 
Prayer Book — at farthest in the Bible — if revolution- 
ary, would hardly be destructive. 

On the fourth point in my letter — the appointment 
of a permanent Episcopal Commission on Church 
Unity — I will only observe that the hostility it has 
met with has been occasioned, I would hope, by a mis- 
apprehension of its design, arising from fhe way in 
which I have argued for it. The Commission, until 
vested with powers not yet asked for it, would be no 
more than the authorized organ of communication 
with surrounding Christian bodies, or individuals sound 
in the faith. Such communication might issue in 
action, for which, however, the Commission would 
require further instructions from the House of Bishops, 
or the whole Convention. Contemplating the result 
in the restoration of the evangelical commission to the 
Episcopate, to be exercised in granting holy orders on 
evangelical terms, I argued for the Commission, as the 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 287 

necessary preparatory measure, by showing how it 
should approve itself to both of the leading parties in the 
Church, with the understanding that the Commission 
would (until further orders) confine itself to prelimi- 
nary, or rather tentative action. I earnestly hope you 
will report in its favour. Discussing the proposition 
in conversation with many of our Clergy and several 
of the Bishops, I have found none to object to it, and 
most to give it their cordial assent. Harm, it could 
do none. The good to which it might lead, cannot be 
measured. At the least, it would be an attempt, an 
essay on the part of the only Church which can make 
it with any prospect of success, to gather into one the 
sundered multitude of believers on the old ground of the 
one Lord, the one Faith, the one Baptism. Is not the 
ability of our Church to put forth an effort to that end 
a talent, for the improvement of which she will be held 
responsible ? Shall she hide it in a napkin — the nap- 
kin of her niceties and peculiarities ? 

Our Church (as is shown in a recent admirable 
charge by one of your brethren) has both a Catholic 
and denominational character. Which shall we now 
seek to develop ? This, in reference to all the wants 
of the Memorialists, is the question before you in 
making up your report. If it be her denominational 
character that she is most concerned for, your report 
may be very brief. Dismiss the Memorial : Take your 
stand on the prudential maxim, " Let well alone : " our 
well-doing Church will continue to do well in her own 



288 The Memorial Papers. 

sphere and peculiar mission ; with her stern integrity, 
her conservative policy, her refined taste and dignified 
bearing, she will always be most acceptable in the 
upper walks of life, where, indeed, as well as in the 
lower, there are souls to be gathered into the kingdom ; 
while, also, she will always have a goodly number of 
retainers in her beneficiaries among the poor. As she 
is, she can thus prosper, — confessedly the most respect- 
able denomination in the land. But if, without com- 
promising any real advantages in that character, she 
is mainly bent on developing the Catholic elements in 
her constitution, then give her ample room for so 
glorious a design. 

Bid her look over this vast continent, filling with 
people of all nations, and languages, and tongues, and 
see the folly of hoping to perpetuate among them an 
Anglican Communion that will ever be recognised as 
aught more than an honourable sect. Bid her give 
over the vain attempt to cast all men's minds into one 
mould. 

Bid her cherish among her own members mutual 
tolerance of opinion in doctrine, and taste in worship ; 
remembering that uniform sameness in lesser matters 
may be the ambition of a society, a party, a school, 
in the Church, but is far below any genuine aspirations 
of the Church herself. 

It is the genius of Catholicism which is now knock- 
ing at her doors. Let her refuse to open. Let her, if 
she will, make them faster still, with new bolts and 
bars, and then take her rest, to dream a wilder dream 



Dr. Muhlenberg's Communication. 289 

than any of the Memorial — of becoming the Catholic 
Church of these United States. 

Pardon my length, my dear Bishop. I meant, when 
I began, to make merely a brief defence of my former 
letter. Should you deem what I have written worthy 
to be read to your Right Reverend Brethren at their 
present meeting, please do so, with the dutiful respects 
and unfeigned reverence of your and their servant 
and brother in Christ, 

W. A. Muhlenberg. 



25 



DR. ODENHEIMER'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Right Reverend J. H. Otey, D. D. Chairman, &c. &c. 

Right Reverend Sir : — 

In reply to the communication from the venerable 
body of which you are chairman, inviting an answer 
to certain inquiries, the following suggestions are 
respectfully submitted. 

I. 

I. Improvements in candidates for holy orders : 

1. In learning ', by greater strictness in the canon- 
ical examinations. 

2. In piety, by observing the Ember seasons as 
special periods for united prayer with and for them. 

3. In intellectual power, by avoiding the sin of 
Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiii. 33, 34. 

4. In practical efficiency, by employing them, 
under Episcopal supervision, in visiting the sick and 
in instructing the ignorant. 

II. Changes in our preaching. 

(290) 



De. Odenheimer's Communication. 291 

1. In quality, by aiming at expositions of, rather 
than logical deductions from, God's word. 

2. In quantity, by not exceeding, ordinarily, half 
an hour in time. 

3. In style, by being instructive rather than rheto- 
rical. 

4. In variety, by adding to sermons the reading 
of the Homilies, and familiar lectures on the duties 
of the Christian life. 

III. Ministrations among the godless extra-paro- 
chial multitude. 

Let our Dioceses, and especially our large cities, be 
divided into manageable districts, and let each district 
be assigned, under Episcopal supervision, to a Mis- 
sionary, clerical or lay, who shall become acquainted 
with the character of every man, woman, and child 
in the district. Let the poor, sick, and destitute in 
these districts be attracted to Christ and His Church 

1. Social intercourse, in frequent visits. 

2. Extra-parochial services at their own homes. 

3. Philanthropic labours, in the shape of relief to 
the needy ; cheap schools for the children ; hospital 
accommodation for the sick, and reformatory homes 
for the penitent. 

IV. Evangelists, deacons, and scholars. 

1. For the extra-parochial purposes mentioned in 
the last answer, 

" Itinerating Evangelists" are essential. 

2. Deacons, necessarily permanent (i. e. incapable, 



292 The Memorial Papers. 

intellectually or socially for attaining to the priest- 
hood), do not seem to be desirable. 

3. Our theological and collegiate institutions would 
seem to afford sufficient provision, under present cir- 
cumstances, for a clerical body more profoundly 
learned than the parochial clergy. 

V. Division of labour. 

The method of districting our Dioceses, and espe- 
cially our large cities, referred to in the answer. to the 
3d question, would supply a field for the non-parochial 
Clergy, and gifted laymen. 

VI. Defective instruction. 

1. In the family j by not inculcating and enforcing 
subordination. 

2. In the Sunday School, by encroaching on the 
parental obligations to teach. 

3. In the catechetical, by indefiniteness, in not 
teaching thoroughly the Church Catechism. 

VII. More frequent Sunday services. 

In order to meet the wants of the different classes 
in society, we should multiply our services. There 
are some who could attend an early morning, or a 
night service only. 

VIII. Instruction, &c, for young men. 

1. On Sunday, by an afternoon Bible class. 

2. On week days, by employing them in the phi- 
lanthropic works which a proper system of city Mis- 
sions (see answer to question 3d) would supply. 

IX. Lay co-operation 

Can be secured by putting into vigorous practice 



Dr. Odenheimer's Communication. 293 

the missionary system recommended in the answer to 
3d question. 

X. Christian brotherhood promoted. 

By working together in some such systematic effort 
as has been recommended in answer to question 3d. 

XI. To attract young men to our Churches. 

1. Let us give them, when children, definite Church 
instruction. 

2. Let us make our service's as attractive as the 
spirit and intention of our Liturgy admit. 

3. Let our pulpit instructions have greater relation 
to them as a class. 

XII. To influence men of business. 

1. By directing our preaching, more pointedly, 
against love of money. 

2. By multiplying the means of grace, such as the 
Daily Morning, and Evening Prayer, and frequent 
Communions. 

XIII. To increase pecuniary contributions. 

1. By instructing our people on the responsibility 
of property. 

2. By observing the Rubric, relating to liberality 
to the poor, in the Office for the Visitation of the Sick. 

3. By adopting the system of a weekly Offertory ; 
and the principle of St. Paul — " upon the first day of 
the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as 
God hath prospered him." 



II. 



I. Changes in Liturgy. 

25 * 



294 The Memorial Papers. 

1. Not by lengthening, nor by shortening, but by 
dividing when necessary. 

2. Not by changing the Lessons, &c, nor by mul- 
tiplying special services and prayers, hymns, &c, but 
by thoroughly using those which we already possess. 

3. The authorities of each Diocese have, or ought 
to have, liberty to set forth services for special occa- 
sions. 

II. Conditions of ordination. 

The Ministerial Commission is given to be exercised 
for the good of the Church generally ; it would seem, 
therefore, that the conditions of ordination should be 
the same in all our Dioceses, and hence should be 
prescribed exclusively by the General Convention. 

III. Conditions imposed on candidates from other 
Protestant communions should not be relaxed. 

1. As to term of time. 

2. As to degree of conformity to the Church. 

IV. Facts relating to ministers of other Protestant 
bodies. 

From conversation with such men as the Rev. 
Albert Barnes, D. D., I believe that facts are against 
the amiable theory of the Memorial. 

V. Facts relating to the members of the above 
bodies. 

From conversation with intelligent laymen of other 
Protestant bodies, I believe that they have no idea of 
unity as connected with or dependent on the Episco- 
pate. 



Dit. Odenheimer's Communication. 295 

VL Episcopal liberty (in Liturgies, &c.) in Dio- 
cesan matters. 

If I apprehend exactly this question, I should reply 
that, in primitive times, that liberty and the respon- 
sibilities of Bishops were more distinctly asserted than 
in our day. See Canon 32d of the Apostolical Canons. 

" Let the Priests and Deacons do nothing without 
the knowledge and consent of the Bishop ; for with 
Mm the people of Grod are intrusted, and of him the 
account will be demanded." 

VII. Church provision for training teachers and 
nurses. 

Better provision should be made, 

1. By encouraging schools for teachers. 

2. And by training nurses in connexion with 
Church hospitals. 

VIII. System for females pursuing benevolent 
labours. 

If the plan of districting our large cities, recom- 
mended in the answer to question 3d of 1st series, 
should be vigorously put into practical operation, 
there would be furnished the material for a systematic 
employment of all who had leisure and inclination for 
Christian exertion. 

The only other remark which it occurs to me to 
make is a respectful suggestion to your Right Rever- 
end body, that we, the parochial clergy, be urged to 
develope, to their fullest extent, the rich treasures of 
devotion already provided for us in our Prayer Book, 
so that we, or a future generation, may be able to 



296 The Memorial Papers. 

declare more exactly what changes, if any, it may be 
expedient to make in our Liturgical services. 
With great respect, 

Your son and servant in the Church, 

W. H. Odenheimer. 
September, 28, 1854. 



REV. DR. TRAPIER'S COMMUNICATION. 



Part I. 

Dear Bishop Otey : — 

In compliance with the printed request of the 
Bishops on Dr. Muhlenberg's Memorial, and with 
your desire as expressed by letter to me, I will try to 
offer, with all possible deference, such views as have 
from time to time been in my mind on the matters 
now under consideration in Committee. And as what 
I may have to say will be, of necessity, discursive, 
and I fear ill arranged, you will suffer me to put it 
into the familiar form of a reply to you, with the 
understanding that you will use your absolute discre- 
tion whether or no to lay it before your associates, 
assured that, if you throw it into the fire, when read 
only by yourself, there will be no one better pleased 
than I. 

I. On the present method of preparing young men 
for the ministry. No doubt it greatly needs improve- 
ment in respect to, 1st, Learning ; inasmuch as in 

(297) 



298 The Memorial Papers. 

this our clergy generally are far from being as profi- 
cient as they should be. For proof of this we have 
to turn only to a comparison with our brethren of the 
English Church, by the side of whom our scholarship 
will be found to be extremely meagre; nor indeed 
can we feel that any clergyman can rightly be called 
" learned," if unable to read with ready intelligence 
at least the originals of the Holy Scriptures and the 
Latin — a degree of attainment at present reached by 
few. This deficiency, it will be admitted, is owing 
primarily to imperfect training in preparatory schools, 
and to the consequent impossibility of giving requi- 
site thoroughness and compass to the instructions in 
Theological Seminaries, or under the direction of 
elder presbyters, who may have the care of candi- 
dates for orders. 

The remedy would be a remodelling of academical 
teaching, and a lengthening of collegiate and theolo- 
gical preparation. But it is doubted whether in a 
state of society so impatient as is ours for premature 
entrance upon active life, and in a profession so ill 
supplied with men as is the sacred ministry, consent 
can fee obtained from parents and children, or even 
from Standing Committees, Conventions, or Bishops, 
for this lengthening of preparation and this delay of 
active employment. Why not teach Hebrew at 
schools ? 

2dly. In piety. I apprehend that our candidates 
are left too much to themselves, and that, from a dread 
of that inquisitorial process to which others in other 



Dr. Trapier's Communication. 299 

denominations are subjected, we have not been always 
careful enough to inquire into the personal experi- 
ence of individuals ; but have taken too often for 
granted that a profession of a desire for the ministry 
has proceeded from not only a sincere, but a holy, 
motive ; thus perhaps leaving some young men some- 
times under a delusion, if not leading them into a 
mistake, hurtful to their subsequent usefulness, and 
to their inward peace of mind. 

In remedy for this, it may be well that those, to 
whom their wish for the ministry is intimated, shooild 
speak to them freely, and from the first, of its high 
responsibilities, and aid them by familiar and affec- 
tionate suggestions in the difficult work of self-exami- 
nation, and in the formation of those habits of per- 
sonal piety and devotion, wherein the experience of 
a more advanced Christian, as a spiritual guide, may 
be of eminent service to a babe in Christ. Especially 
is this deficiency, and the need, therefore, of some 
effectual remedy, apparent in our Theological Semi- 
naries, to which many of our young men are sent 
from distances which remove them beyond intercourse 
with former pastors and guides, away from the influ- 
ences of pious relations, and among others as inex- 
perienced as themselves ; and therefore laying them 
open to such hurtful notions as may for the time 
be prevalent either within the walls of the semi- 
nary, or among the clergy, and in the community 
around. Thence are apt to proceed exaggerations of 
even those notions, through the fermenting of them 



300 The Memorial Papers. 

in youthful brains and ardent tempers, besides extra- 
vagances of party spirit, sure to spring up in seasons 
of excitement, and nowhere more likely than among 
students. 

We greatly need a resident chaplain at each of our 
seminaries : some experienced and warm-hearted, sym- 
pathizing presbyter, who can and will be the ready 
adviser of the young men, one to whom they will be 
disposed to open their hearts, communicate their 
doubts and fears, and all the thousand searchings of 
spirit, which must arise in those who are conscientiously 
trying their own spirits in prospect of the awful re- 
sponsibility of being " ductores dubitantium" in cases 
of conscience, as well as careful dividers and distribu- 
tors of the bread of life. Nor will it do to look to 
the professors of the seminaries, or to a temporary 
"dean," to do all this; for their other duties are 
quite enough to preoccupy them, and to leave them 
little time for visiting the young at their rooms, espe- 
cially in sickness ; besides that, it is essential to the 
existence of the desired confidence that the office of 
spiritual pastor be permanent, and in the person of 
some one selected because of his peculiar aptitude for 
these very duties ; and who may also, by familiar lec- 
tures on the pastoral care, on the model of Burnet's, 
or of Herbert's, or of Chrysostom's, adapted to pre- 
sent times, bring home to individual consciences the 
practical work of the sacred ministry. 

3dly. Intellectual power is understood to mean the 
faeulty of making the most of the mental and moral 



Dr. Trapier's Communication. 301 

capabilities with which individuals may be respectively 
gifted, unless the idea be also of some way of inducing 
young men of a higher order of talent than is com- 
monly found among our clergy, to seek admission 
into our ministry. 

If this last be the meaning, I fear, that so long as 
the woi*ld lasts it will be found that "not many wise 
men," &c, will be "called," in comparison with the 
number of those who are attracted by the more 
tempting prizes of ambition, wealth, literature, &c. ; 
though I doubt not a larger proportion of young men 
of talent would be induced to study for the ministry, 
and as many perhaps as it would be safe so to influ- 
ence, by increase of salaries and other comforts. If 
the former be the meaning, I know not of any other 
method for increasing intellectual power but by atten- 
tion to the 1st and 2d of the present points, and to the 

4th. Of practical efficiency — wherein, perhaps, more 
than in any other quality, our clergy are behind min- 
isters of some other denominations ; e. g. Methodists 
and Romanists. The secret of this may be found 
probably in the mode among us of teaching pastoral 
duty rather by theory than by practice ; setting our 
young men, I mean, to learn what they ought to do, 
rather than to do it ; training them in solitary study 
under the direction of a single presbyter, or in semi- 
naries under several : but in either case without active 
engagement; so that, when they take charge of par- 
ishes, they may be ever so well furnished with the 
implements of usefulness, but have still to find out, 

26 



302 The Memorial Papers. 

and that too each by himself in general, the way to 
use those implements. Now this is a course pursued 
alone in ministerial education ; certainly it is not in 
the legal profession, where the student, while studying 
from books, is also made to draw up papers of various 
sorts, and encouraged to attend courts. Neither is it 
in the medical, where " walking the hospitals," and 
witnessing and assisting in surgical and other cases, 
is a part of the required preparation. Neither is it 
in the mechanical, where the apprentice to the car- 
penter, or blacksmith, or bricklayer, is set to work at 
the trade. Even so, why not make it a rule that 
every candidate for orders, before being admitted to 
that of Deacon, shall have been practically engaged 
in visiting the sick, teaching the young, &c, for a 
certain definite time ? I know that this is the theory 
about Deacons with lesser qualifications ; but until it 
be made the sine qua non for admission at least to 
Priest's orders, and all Deacons, unless so practised, 
shall be forbidden from taking sole charge of parishes, 
1 apprehend that our clergy will continue as hitherto, 
far from being as " practically efficient" as they should 
be. Possibly the system of seminary, i. e. almost 
monastic, theoretical preparation may be combined 
with the practical, by requiring that the vacation in 
each seminary-year be thus spent in service under 
some parochial clergyman ; and, if it be, there will 
result, I am persuaded, more "intellectual power," 
because more command of faculties possessed, than 



Dr. T h a pier's Communication. 303 

with ever so much learning and piety, apart from 
this use of them in exercise. 

II. The prevalent character of our preaching is, I 
should say, necessarily much affected by the mode of 
ministerial training just adverted to, and partakes of 
its defects ; i. e. becomes theological, technical, contro- 
versial, essay-like, more of a " concio-ad-clerum" than 
of a popular appeal to dying sinners by dying sinners. 
This style of sermonizing has been for generations 
characteristic of most of our clergy, English as well 
as American ; and to it, in part, is owing the prover- 
bial dryness of sermons, and their want of interest for 
men of all classes, who are engaged if not engrossed 
in the practical business of daily life. Such we all 
know is not the case with sermons of French, Ger- 
man, Italian ecclesiastics, whether among non-Episco- 
pal or Romish communions ; nor can any one be fami- 
liar with the discourses, however elaborate, of Saurin, 
of Bourdaloue, of Massillon ; or listen to the stirring 
extempore or memoriter addresses of most of the 
living preachers on the continent of Europe, without 
being made painfully sensible of the inferiority of 
Anglican alike and of American clergy in this faculty 
of adapting their discourses to the promiscuous audi- 
ences which compose every congregation, even in 
cities much more in country places, and most of all in 
illiterate communities. Hence it is, that with intel- 
lectual furniture comparatively so meagre, and with 
piety probably not more earnest, the Methodists, and 
Baptists, and Romanists succeed better than we in 



S04 The Memorial Papers. 

awakening the minds and moving the hearts of the 
masses. 

If so we would also, let us then discard these theo- 
logical theses, these technical phrases, these closet 
essays, and, trying to look at the great truths of the 
Gospel as they are looked at from the arena of life, 
let us approach our people as from among themselves, 
speak to them in the language, and with the illustra- 
tions, of every-day life ; drawing our imagery, as did 
our Master, from their own pursuits, and from objects 
around them, and ive too shall once more be heard by 
" the common people' ' " gladly ;" particularly if prac- 
tised in extempore preaching, or at any rate able to 
resort to it on occasion. 

Besides sermons from the pulpit, I have found it 
useful to deliver, on some day or days in each week 
familiar extempore lectures in exposition of some 
portion of Scripture in regular course ; also at meet- 
ings of communicants addresses to them in enforce- 
ment of their duties, in exhibition of their privileges, 
and in explanation of the Communion Office of our 
Church. Also lectures on the Creed, Ten Command- 
ments, and Lord's Prayer, and Sacraments, to persons 
preparing for adult Baptism or Confirmation. 

Ill and IV. I know of no other mode of attaining 
the objects referred to by the third of these than by 
affirmative attention to the fourth, viz. by our having 
" Itinerating Evangelists," as well as settled pastors ; 
and the only wonder seems to be that the former 
should ever have been thought superfluous in a w T orld 



Dr. Trapier's Communication. 305 

which the Son of Man came to "seek" that he might 
" save," and by a Gospel, for which the natural heart 
has no inclination. Surely it stands to reason that 
the offers of this Saviour in this Gospel should not be 
held in reserve until they are applied for, but should 
be pressed upon those who care not for them, and are 
even averse to them ; and that therefore we should 
not wait until the people organize themselves of their 
own accord into parishes or congregations, and invite 
a pastor to take charge of them, but should "send 
out" missionaries into " highways and hedges," and 
" streets and lanes," and to wharves and hovels, to 
" compel them to come in." 

In a word, it is plain to me that there should be 
missionaries itinerating unceasingly in our populous 
cities, and in our rural districts, following up the wan- 
dering to their retreats, mingling with them familiarly 
at their places of labour, of amusement, of domestic 
retirement ; especially in their sorrows, and their 
sicknesses ; and urging on them, everywhere, day by 
day, "the truth as it is in Jesus;" and so leading 
them to attend on the Lord's Day in the Lord's house, 
and bringing them gradually under regular pastoral 
influences. Nor should it be forgotten that it is 
important in thus gaining access to the masses, that 
there be care taken for their bodies and their minds 
as well as for their souls ; and that all the apparatus of 
free and "ragged" schools, clothing and fuel societies, 
medical aid, &c, &c, as in operation in England, may 

26 * 



306 The Memorial Papers. 

with due modifications be rendered auxiliary in evan- 
gelizing our country. 

Permanent Deacons may be safely left to the con- 
tingency of personal qualification for advancement to 
the higher grades ; provided it be seen that none be 
so advanced until they have " purchased to themselves 
a good degree" by " using the office of a Deacon 
well:" a due regard to which condition would doubt- 
less leave for life in the lower order men enough for 
its work, while the leaving of the prospect of promo- 
tion contingent on fitness would afford the wholesome 
stimulus w^hich is among the divinely appointed incen- 
tives, and of which it might therefore be unsafe to 
deprive any. That there should be "a portion of the 
clergy more especially devoted to theological and bibli- 
cal studies" is certainly desirable — but can scarcely 
perhaps be provided for by any legislation — scarcely 
by endowments ; but must, perhaps for generations, 
in our new country, be left to individual taste, and 
competency, and circumstances. Even so I should 
say also of No. V., except that appropriate fields for 
such persons may be found in part in our Theological 
Seminaries, our Missionary Agencies, our editorships 
of reviews, and of the publication of Church societies, 
possibly of Church journals — if indeed a right spirit 
can by any means be infused into " hebdomadals." 

VI. I do not know that we can be said to have at 
" present" any " system" of 

Family instruction and training. Many families, 
professedly pious, being, it is feared, without any sort 



Dr. T rapier's Communication. 807 

of domestic devotion, and among those who do assem- 
ble children and servants for this purpose, there being 
only the reading of a few verses of Scripture, and 
prayers from some one or other of the many manuals 
in use for this purpose. Nor is it easy to see how 
improvements can well be introduced into that which 
must after all be left very much to the habits and cir- 
cumstances of respective households. Only we may 
suggest that more pains be taken by our chief and 
subordinate pastors to enforce the obligation of 
family prayer, and to give practical directions for its 
better conduct, by such hints and appeals as to their 
wisdom may seem best : in particular that the use of 
hymns, and of a responsive service, be recommended 
as imparting a more social character to such worship. 
Our Sunday Schools, it has been often remarked, 
have of late years passed too much from under pasto- 
ral control and direction to that of lay superintend- 
ence, and become too generally substitutes for old- 
timed catechizing. And I would, therefore, express 
earnestly the conviction that every pastor should him- 
self be present in his Sunday School, question and 
teach its scholars, and keep up his authority over its 
teachers, prescribing such lessons as he may think 
will be most for the good of the former, and holding 
meetings of the latter to prepare them for teaching 
those lessons ; having regard to the several seasons 
of the Church's year as they come round, and draw- 
ing attention to the services provided in our Prayer 
Book for those seasons. For catechetical instruction, 



308 The Memorial Papers. 

I know of nothing better than our Catechism, Collects, 
Epistles, Gospels, and Hymns ; all of which admit 
of indefinite illustration and proof from Scripture, 
and of application to the every-day concerns of life, 
in thousands of ways, which will readily occur to the 
mind and heart of the faithful pastor. 

VII. I have thought that it is well to open in cities 
and large towns a few of our Churches at convenient 
distances on Sunday nights, in order that those whose 
domestic employments hinder their attendance during 
the day (such as house-servants of all sorts), may 
have an opportunity of attendance. But I deprecate 
the impression that a third service is advisable for 
those who have already been at two on Sunday, and 
w T ho had better therefore stay at home in the evening, 
think over the sermons and other teachings of the 
day, and interest the young and the dependent by 
familiar conversation and reading ; instead of leaving 
children to servants, and servants to the intrusion of 
unsuitable companions, while elders and superiors are 
enjoying the questionable privilege of listening to a 
" popular preacher." 

VIII. Bible Classes are sometimes rendered attract- 
ive enough to induce attendance of boys after leaving 
Sunday School ; also familiar lectures on the Evi- 
dences of Christianity: and Parish Libraries may 
foster in them a taste for edifying reading. 

IX. " Church Brotherhoods" are apparently, at 
present, the favourite expedient for bringing about 
lay co-operation in pastoral work. But they seem 






Dr. Trapier's Communication. 309 

justly open to exceptions, and cannot, in my opinion, 
be " safely" made use of, at least as hitherto organ- 
ized. But I see not why pastors may not call upon 
pious people, female as well as male, to visit the sick 
and the poor, and report to them ; while by statements 
of need, from the pulpit or the chancel, the congrega- 
tion generally may be moved to furnish the means of 
relief. All this may be under the direction of each 
pastor, with such interchanges of intelligence and 
assistance with other pastors and people as may result 
in systematic effort, embracing towns, districts, and 
even Dioceses, while leaving untouched parochial and 
diocesan independence. I am strongly of the impres- 
sion that almost every pastor can find in his congre- 
gation at least some four or five good people to begin 
with, who at his summons will undertake to seek after 
the sick, the poor, and the suffering, and to take to 
them the Communion alms, and other bounty of the 
congregation. I am sanguine in the hope that the 
example would soon be followed by one, and then by 
another, until there w^ould be gathered around the 
pastor a band of efficient lay-helpers sufficient in 
numbers and zeal to keep up a constant supervision 
of a certain space around the Church, and to see to 
the wants of all within it. Thus, perhaps, by accus- 
toming our laity to such work, we should educe from 
them that very class of deacons, for which we are 
now yearning in vain, but which may be more proba- 
bly raised up through God's grace by the practice of 



310 The Memorial Papers. 

charity, than canonical enactments, however explicit. 
Thus too would be brought about 

X. True brotherly intercourse. " The fellowship 
of Christian minds' ' being more efficiently awakened 
by working together for Christ's sake, than by ex- 
hortations the most earnest and regulations the most 
judicious. Nor do I know of any method more likely 
to accomplish what is contemplated in questions. 

XI. and XII. Inasmuch as I really think the main 
reason why our lay people do so little is that we of 
the clergy have so long been undertaking to do so 
much. Hence has arisen the prevalent impression 
that religion in all its branches is for the clergy to 
attend to ; while the laity, except in things which 
concern the soul's salvation of each, are to be passive 
recipients, or at most mere money-chests whence to 
draw the means of doing good. Whereas, among the 
denominations where the laity are called in to take 
part in the work of evangelizing (as among the Metho- 
dists), no lack of lay co-operators is felt, and that 
too even where the same laity are not admitted to a 
share in legislation or discipline. While among us, 
though in conventional organizations they are on an 
equal footing with the clergy, they seem to think that 
in carrying out the system of our Church in its influ- 
ence upon the world around, and in its care of its 
own members, they have nothing to do. But let us set 
them to work, and their hearts will be drawn out to 
us and to each other; " the cares of this world," and 
"the deceitfulness of riches," and "the pleasures of 



Dr. Trapier's Communication. 311 

life/' will all become less engrossing ; and the business 
men, and the fashionable women, and the gay youth, 
will be the more likely to find other and higher satis- 
faction in the blessed work of doing good. 

XIII. In this Diocese of South Carolina, stated 
collections, monthly in our cities, and yearly in our 
country parishes, are generally taken up in aid of 
Missions. A monthly lecture, giving missionary intel- 
ligence, and presenting motives to missionary effort, 
is delivered in Charleston by the clergy in rotation, 
and special appeals are made for special objects. The 
" Spirit of Missions" is circulated and subscribed for ; 
and we know of nothing more that can be done under 
God, but a more extensive and faithful use of these 
approved and long-practised means ; for the mission- 
ary measures of 1835 have always been heartily 
approved among us, and our only regret has been 
that our measure of effort has not been up to the 
standard then set before us. 

I beg pardon again for being so prolix on this 
branch of the queries proposed ; and that they may 
be kept apart from the other, I here beg leave to 
assure you that I am very respectfully, 
Yours in Christ, 

Paul Trapier. 

May 4, 1855. 



312 The Memorial Papers. 



Part II. 
Dear Bishop Otey : — 

On the second branch of the questions proposed, I 
desire to premise that I receive heartily every propo- 
sition in our Prayer Book, nor would I take out of it 
a single word. Not that I think that it is exempt 
from that imperfection which must attach to every- 
thing human, nor that therefore there may not be 
occasion, from time to time, to apply to it that 
"blessed liberty" which itself sets out by asserting. 
For indeed I hold that the truest conservative is he, 
who, while averse to needless change, and cautious of 
any change, is ready, under the rule of a wise dis- 
cretion, to make such changes by proper authority as 
may be demanded by a regard for the main end, for 
which the Prayer Book itself was compiled, of giving 
"the Gospel in the Church" most savingly to a perish- 
ing world — whereas, on the other hand, I hold that 
he is a destructive, w T ho by too stiff adherence to things 
as they are, not only hinders " them who are without" 
from coming into the Church, but may drive those 
within to seek elsewhere (as did the Methodists in 
England) a freedom, which, if judiciously accorded 
and wisely regulated, might have averted schism. 
Being decidedly of opinion, that the time has now 
come for our Church, in this country, to adapt her- 
self somewhat more to the state of things around 
her, I am in favour of modifications, though not in the 



Dr. Trapier's Communication. 313 

substance of our Prayer Book, yet in the order for the 
use of its several parts, and in the addition to it of a 
few prayers hereinafter specified. 

1. Changes, I think, can advantageously be made 
in our Liturgical services. 

(a.) Not by " lengthening' ' any; but by " shorten- 
ing and dividing;" e. g. by letting us have only the 
Communion Service (the whole of it, I mean) on Com- 
munion Sundays — with a sermon, of course, as part of 
it — even though the " Order for Morning Prayer" may 
not have been used at an earlier hour of the day. The 
effect of this, I am confident, would be to give to the 
act of communicating a solemnity and importance not 
attaching to it now, that it comes in as a sequel to a 
service, which on other Sundays is held to be complete 
without it. 

(b.) Certainly "the Lessons, Anthems, &c.," might 
be "better adapted to the different ecclesiastical 
seasons.'' Even Dr. Berrian admits this : and who is 
there of our clergy or people that has not felt that the 
" Venite" is not as suitable as would be a penitential 
Psalm in Lent ? or that the 23d Psalm would be most 
appropriate at the beginning or the end of a year ? or 
that the Lessons in the Calendar on week days are often 
most unseasonable ? or that in Passion Week we might 
have something more apposite than the 10th and 11th 
chapters of Daniel, which not only have scarcely a 
reference to the Saviour's death, but cannot be under- 
stood without the accompanying comment of a Bollin 
or a Newton ? in short, that our people would enter much 

27 



314 The Memorial Papers. 

more thoroughly into the spirit of Advent, Christmas, 
Epiphany, and Ash Wednesday, and Easter Day, and 
the succeeding Sundays, if the Anthems and Lessons 
were more in the same spirit ? Particularly have I 
felt this on Easter Day, the first lessons for which, 
for both morning and afternoon, are about a Jewish 
ordinance, whose evangelical reference is too remote 
to be rendered readily appreciable by our congrega- 
tions, without at least a degree of explanation, which 
does not chime in well with the fresh-springing joys 
of the day. Throughout Lent the heart yearns for 
anthems less jubilant than the Venite, the Te Deum, 
fee, and feels that between Easter and Ascension 
Day, there should be more habitual reference to the 
past and coming events in the Saviour's life. 

After Whitsunday also, the change is so instantane- 
ous to Trinity Sunday (from which latter instead of 
from the former of which festivals, as in ancient times, 
the days thence round again to Advent take their 
name), that there is danger of not due prominence 
being given to the Spirit's nature and offices in the 
minds of our people. We need a Whitsunday season 
as well as an Advent, a Lent, and an Easter. 

(c.) A prayer for increase of labourers, and one also 
for missions, are confessedly desiderata — as has been 
often remarked by others — and it seems proper, that 
having prayed for a sick child, we should have some 
words in which to give thanks for its recovery. Also 
we need a prayer for travellers by land. But for 
other individual cases, a reinsertion of the clause 



Dr. Tr a pier's Communication. 315 

in the English Prayer Book, in the " prayer for all 
conditions of men," and in the " General Thanksgiv- 
ing/' may suffice. 

(f.) I would plead earnestly for " larger liberty to 
the authorities of each Diocese," inasmuch as it is 
impossible in a country so widely spread as ours, and 
made up of people of habits so diverse, and in so 
different stages of civilization, for any one ritual to 
be adapted equally to all ; from the highly refined 
and cultivated of our cities to the Indian of the West, 
the negro of the South, and labouring classes every- 
where ; especially where the Church has to be intro- 
duced for the first time. It cannot be so introduced 
at the outset in all its developments. It scarcely 
ever is. The most strenuous sticklers for undeviating 
rubrical conformity, have to depart from it under 
certain contingencies, as was apparent during the dis- 
cussion of Mr. Tomes' Canon in the last General Con- 
vention, where every speaker came out with his " pec- 
cavi." Hence it results that a liberty is taken, which 
is not expressly granted, and that is done without 
authority, which some of us wish should be " under 
authority," not of individual discretion, but of Episco- 
pal wisdom. And we hold that there is no more 
suitable depository of this dispensing and regulating 
power, than the Bishop of each Diocese, who knows 
best its wants, has most of the confidence of its clergy, 
and may be presumed to be the most prudent. Nay, 
we would not give even to him unlimited liberty 
in this matter, but only within certain bounds, to be 



316 The Memorial Papers. 

specified by the General Convention ; yet sufficient to 
allow of his authorizing in his clergy, such use of the 
Prayer Book, and only of it, as may lead most 
effectually to the use of the whole of it in due time 
everywhere. 

I speak from what I know of the state of things 
among us, as to both our negro population and our 
poor whites in this Diocese. 

As to the poorer classes of white people, especially 
in our middle and upper districts, through the long 
remissness of our Church in our low country, the 
other portions of our state have been preoccupied for 
generations by the Methodists and Baptists. Hence 
has sprung up a rank growth of prejudice against 
forms of prayer, preaching from written sermons, a 
salaried ministry, &c. ; and our Church has, in con- 
sequence, been able hitherto to gain a footing in 
these regions scarcely anywhere, except in villages 
and country towns, where are settlers from " the 
low country," who were Episcopalians before, or 
where are other persons of more than ordinary intelli- 
gence and education; while in the country places, 
among the rural population, it has proved to be an 
almost hopeless task to introduce our services ; i* e. 
in their integrity. Yet I am persuaded, that if a 
clergyman were permitted to go among the people, 
and on assembling them, to begin with a hymn, use a 
few collects, the Confession, Lord's Prayer, a chapter 
of the Bible, and preach an extempore sermon, he 
would, in a little while, dispose them to reecive more 



Dpw. Te a pier's Communication. 317 

and more of the service, till in due season, by judi- 
cious explanations, he would bring them to join in the 
whole of it. 

As to our slaves — they may be distinguished into 
plantation and town negroes ; whose respective cir- 
cumstances, as respects this matter of religion, differ 
materially, and call for different treatment. 

The plantation negroes are under a patriarchal 
government ; each set of them under their respective 
owners, who can select for them such pastor as he 
may please, and keep them in general from other 
religious teaching as 'effectually as he can his own 
children. And, as most of the planters in our low 
country are Episcopalians, it follows that their people 
come under the pastoral care of our clergy, who have 
free access to them during the week, as well as on 
Sundays ; and who, in many cases, are aided by owners 
in teaching them. Hence it comes to pass that, on 
such plantations, it is comparatively easy to introduce 
our Church service almost entire, by using the same 
" selection'' for months together, till the people become 
familiar with it. Yet, even among these people, it is 
found advisable to use often other than the Lesson for 
the day ; and, as the congregations are generally on 
only the afternoons or evenings, to use then some of 
the Morning Service; particularly the Command- 
ments and the second Lessons for the mornings, as 
these are from the Gospels, while those of the after- 
noons are from the Epistles — a part of Scripture less 
intelligible to untutored minds. 

27* 



318 The Memorial Papers.. 

Our city negroes are a different set. Living within 
reach of places of worship of all denominations, and 
being from under the eye of the owner, as soon as 
they are out of his yard, they possess as much of 
liberty almost as free persons, in the choice of the 
denomination with which they will connect themselves. 
And through the praiseworthy zeal of the Methodists, 
they have become, most of them, connected with that 
denomination : so much so, that the religious phrase- 
ology and modes of thought of our negroes generally, 
in this city, are of that school. This brings w 7 ith it a 
necessity on our part, of approaching them with some 
degree of accommodation, familiarizing them gradu- 
ally with our responsive service and more sober style 
of preaching, and indulging them in the use of as 
much of singing as we can find a place for in our 
public worship. Under these circumstances, having 
to commend our Church to a people, of whom very 
few can read, or can be taught to read, or be at Church 
in the morning of Sunday, we do very earnestly desire 
some such authorized modification of our ritual as will 
enable us to render it more acceptable to them, while 
not departing in the least from its spirit, or altering 
a word of its Prayer Book. And our Bishop, we 
think, is the one with w 7 hom might most safely be 
deposited the discretion requisite to meet this desire. 

(e.) Remarks above, on (f.), imply affirmative opinion 
on this head, and indeed I do not see how it can be 
otherwise than that they w r ho go as missionaries, whe- 
ther domestic or foreign, and whether among a people 



Dr. Tr a pier's Communication. 319 

nominally heathen, or, though called Christians, yet 
strangers to our mode of worship, if not to our faith, 
must depart from rubrical exactness — so that the only 
question would seem to be w T hether the modes and 
measures of departure be left to individual discre- 
tion, or to Episcopal or Conventional prescription, 
and whether by tacit understanding or by express 
recognition. I know it is claimed by many that even 
now our clergy have to the full this right of rubrical 
irregularity, on the ground that the Rubrics prescribe 
only what shall be the order of service in established 
congregations. And I do not mean to deny that this 
is so to a certain extent, i. e. that the Rubrics are not 
binding where it would be plainly against common 
sense, because fatal to spiritual good, to keep to them, 
as where there is no one to respond. But I do say 
that, inasmuch as it scarcely can be hoped that all of 
our clergy will possess discretion, it is desirable that 
the question of departure should rest for decision with 
some person or persons of superior wisdom. Not 
absolutely with the General Convention, inasmuch as 
it cannot be adequately able to judge of varying 
exigencies, occurring remotely ; though it may be the 
body by which may most properly be established 
certain general principles and outlines ; to be reduced, 
however, to rules, and the details filled up by either 
Diocesan action, or Episcopal in missionary stations. 
Thence, I presume, would spring up sundry forms of 
service in different missions; e.g. the African, the 
Chinese, the Indian, the Negro ; differing somewhat in 



320 The Memorial Papers. 

phraseology and in arrangement, but on the model of, 
and in doctrinal harmony with, our Prayer Book. 
Nor do I see that any harm would come of such 
diversity so regulated ; while without it there may be 
license, less safe, because more unrestrained. 

2. I think they should; at least so long as Canons 
VII. of 1850, and XIV. of 1853, are in force ; unless 
Bishop De Lancey's project of " provinces" be adopted, 
in which case, among the modifications of our legisla- 
tion might be, perhaps wisely, some permission of 
admission of persons to holy orders, with a view to 
the peculiar wants of specific spheres of labour. But, 
if so, it would follow that Bishops and Standing Com- 
mittees should have more discretion in excluding from 
their respect Dioceses, for other reasons than such as 
would warrant ecclesiastical trial. And I apprehend 
that, unless the General Convention will have regard 
to the wants of our Church, not only in our chief 
cities, but in our less cultivated communities, and will 
legislate for not only a learned clergy, but also an 
efficient body of practical evangelists, the call for more 
liberty from the Dioceses will be imperative. 

3, 4, and 5. To these I answer No : to the first of 
them, from decided objection to any further relaxa- 
tion ; to the other two, merely from ignorance of any 
such instances as are there sought for. 

6. Dr. Muhlenberg has proved that they are not : 
vide his Exposition (36-38). 

7. That she " ought" is clear, if she can : but hoiv 
she is to, may be more than most of us can see or say. 



Dr. Trapier's Communication. 321 

Still it is conceivable that, by the earnest and united 
persuasions of pastors, and especially of Bishops, the 
members generally of our Church may be waked up 
to feel the importance of Christianizing education — 
and in order thereto of founding " Church Schools" 
in connexion with parishes and Dioceses — for which 
purpose we may derive invaluable hints from our 
English brethren. Moreover in " Church Homes" 
and Hospitals, of which there are already specimens 
in our own country, females may be trained, who will 
do, from love to Christ and to his people, the kindly 
offices which now are done by hired nurses. But 
success in so desirable an undertaking can scarcely be 
hoped for without a general agreement of opinion and 
combination of effort, nor without liberal contributions 
of money for endowments, which will enable denomi- 
national schools of any sort to compete with those of 
the state, or even of private enterprise, not so con- 
nected with ecclesiastical associations, and therefore 
not so much opposed by sectarian jealousy. 

8. Undoubtedly. Many of our pious women have 
"leisure," and more of it too than they know what 
do with, and are even suffering instead from that 
ennui, which is at once the cause and the effect of 
conscious uselessness ; not always from want of 
"inclination," but often from their really not know- 
ing how to set to work and what to do. Many of 
them are, but many more might be, Sunday School 
teachers. By their Working Societies, Fuel Societies, 
Shoe Societies, &c, numbers are caring efficiently for 



322 The Memorial Papers. 

the poor in our cities ; and we do not see why there 
may not be such in every large parish, and in most 
of the smaller ones in our large towns, and even in 
rural districts. According to suggestions in the first 
part of this communication, they inay render material 
aid to their pastors. Nor does there seem to be any 
sufficient reason why such "sisterhoods" as are found 
useful among Protestants in Europe, and to some 
extent also in our own country, may not be introduced 
among us, though not without modifications thought- 
fully considered to adapt them to our circumstances, 
and to guard them against those abuses, to which all 
such associations are liable. 

Tendering with great deference, and with much 
hesitation, these probably superfluous suggestions, 
and hoping and praying that something practical may 
be elaborated by the wisdom of those Reverend 
Fathers who have this matter under consideration, I 
am, very respectfully, 

Paul Trapier. 

May 4th, 1855. 



DR. VAN DEUSEN'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Et. Eev. James H. Otey, D, D., Chairman of the Com- 
mission on the Memorial. 

Reverend and Dear Sir : — 

I send you a few thoughts in reply to the inquiries 
of the Commission of Bishops, which have suggested 
themselves, in considering the important subjects to 
which those questions relate. I must say at the outset, 
that I have never looked upon the original Memorial 
with any very great favour, but have felt that it pro- 
ceeded from that love of novelty and change, which, 
sheltering itself under the plea that we must keep 
pace with the progress of the age, and accommodate 
the agencies of the Church to the existing state of 
society, would part with all that is old and venerable, 
and substitute something that is new, to arrest atten- 
tion and win the people to her embrace. At the same 
time I am very far from thinking the human instru- 
mentalities of the Church are perfect ; and would 
gladly see some improvements made, which would not 

(323) 



324 The Memorial Papers. 

affect her fixed system and principles. I will there- 
fore make known some of my views, in the form of 
unswers to the questions, in the order that they occur. 

I. 

1. While I do not complain of the present mode of 
preparing young men for the ministry in respect " to 
learning, piety, or intellectual power," I think there 
could be some improvement in the way of practical 
efficiency. Our candidates need, what students of 
law and medicine enjoy, intercourse with faithful and 
judicious pastors whilst " visiting the sick, as well as 
the whole, within their cures ;" meeting difficult cases 
of conscience; imparting oral instruction to the various 
classes that compose our congregations — indeed in the 
discharge of all their ordinary private duties. They 
need opportunities of seeing their manner of approach- 
ing men — dealing with them — and that every-day life 
of a faithful rector, which would enable one to mould 
his own character, from his standard of duty in those 
things not explicitly enjoined, and become an able 
minister of the New Testament. 

2. I think we need more earnestness and directness, 
and less fear of becoming methoclistical and enthusi- 
astic. But I hear so little preaching, that I feel a 
delicacy in expressing myself upon this point. 

3. By visits from house to house ; inquiries into 
their condition; kindness to themselves and their 
children ; gathering them into Sunday and parochial 
schools ; providing for their wants when in poverty and 



Dr. Van Deusen's Communication. 325 

sickness ; welcoming them to our Churches, or hold- 
ing services for them when too distant ; and by that 
general civility, attention, and care, which will show 
that we sympathize with them, and take an interest 
in their temporal and spiritual welfare. 

4. Yes. 

5. No plan at present suggests itself. 

6. In regard to family training and instruction, I 
fear that there is very little to be found that looks to 
religious ends. And the ministry must therefore urge 
the duty both publicly and privately. The Sunday 
School is deficient because so generally intrusted to 
lay control — whereas the rector should be with his 
Sunday School as regularly as with his congregation. 
During a ministry of fourteen years, I have never 
had a superintendent, but opened and closed my 
school, taken a general supervision, and taught the 
oldest class ; and yet been able to perform my other 
Sunday labours without much inconvenience or fatigue. 
This constant attendance bring3 the rector in con- 
nexion with all his children, and attaches them to 
him personally, and through him to the truths and 
principles he inculcates. In regard to catechising, it 
is feared, it is very little practised ; and parents do 
not see that their children attend, when it is practised. 

7. I have never yet been able to see the necessity 
or propriety of opening our Churches at different 
hours, except when they were crowded, and some 
were excluded. 

8. I endeavour to take charge of all large girls and 

28 



326 The Memorial Papers. 

boys — when they have passed through the lower classes 
— and thus make a position in this higher class an 
honour, to which all my children are taught to aspire. 

9. This is a difficult question. They do not co- 
operate as they should ; yet it is not easy to suggest 
a remedy. A disposition to do good will always find 
opportunities. But it is feared the duty of co-opera- 
tion is not realized; and the ministry must teach this 
as they do other religious obligations. 

10. By securing the true spirit of the Gospel ; and 
that intercourse will necessarily follow. 

11. Yes. By proper parental training, and habits 
of attendance in early life ; by special attention from 
the clergy in the way of civilities, kind inquiries, 
visits, and instructions from the pulpit ; recommending 
suitable books for reading ; interesting them in the 
various works and labours of the Church, by finding 
something for them to do, and proposing certain ends 
to be accomplished, and so presenting Christianity, 
that they may be drawn and persuaded, rather than 
alienated and repelled. 

12 and 13. I know no better means than a constant 
repetition in public and private, of those considerations 
which the Gospel sets forth for accomplishing these 
objects, showing the success of persevering effort, and 
urging their duties by the power of our own example 
in doing the work of reclaiming others, and showing 
an indifference to the things of this world. 



Dr. Van Deusen's Communication. 327 

II. 

1. Not in language — but as suggested, 
(a.) Shortening and dividing. 

(b.) Yes. 
(c.) Yes. 
(d.) Yes. 
(e.) Yes. 

(f.) I can see no special need of change in this 
respect. 

2. Yes. 

3. No. 
(a.) No. 
(b.) No. 

4. No. 

5. No. 

6. I do not feel qualified to answer, though I think 
not. 

7. Yes. ■ 

8. Yes. 

I have thus given you general replies ; because to 
have entered into particulars, would have required 
much time and labour, and this was not desired by 
the Commission, as I understand their object to be 
to get a general expression of opinion upon certain 
subjects, rather than dissertations upon them. I have 
long felt disposed, when hearing the system and varied 
appliances of the Church complained of, as imperfect 
and inefficient, to ask the question, have you tested 
them thoroughly and faithfully ? Have you, as a 
minister of Grod's Word, done your duty, fulfilled 



328 The Memorial Papebs. 

your ordination vows ? or may not much of the good 
work left undone lie at your door ? For one, I can say 
that I think that we are more deficient than the means ; 
and that if we were more laborious, self-denying, 
humble, devout, and holy, a hundred- fold of fruit would 
be found, where now there is but thirty. We may have 
the most perfect system of means, the best adjusted 
machinery, but if they are not in the hands of a 
thorough workman — watchful, skilful, faithful, per- 
severing, laborious — they will avail little. Let the 
ministry be less worldly, contentious, inconsistent, and 
unconcerned, about the true end of the Gospel, the 
salvation of souls, and carry out the whole working 
system of the Church, with some few modifications, 
and we might enjoy, it is humbly believed, a more 
abundant blessing. 

Very respectfully and truly, yours, 
Edwin M. Van Deusen. 

Sept. 26th, 1854. 



EEV. DR. VINTON'S COMMUNICATION. 



My Dear Brother: — 

I beg to acknowledge your official note, inviting me 
to appear before the Committee of Bishops, who are 
considering " the Memorial." 

I expect to leave town for Rhode Island to-day ; 
and on my return next week, I would willingly, if 
requested, attempt an argument for the prayer of the 
Memorial 

Meanwhile, let me say through you, that the Memo- 
rial prays for the removal of the restrictions of our 
Canon law, on the exercise of our Bishops' Apostolic 
power of Ordination. The restrictions relate chiefly 
to the use of the Prayer Book and adoption of the 
Articles of Religion. These are doubtless expedient 
for our Church ; and yet they may be revoked by our 
General Convention. They are, therefore, of man's 
device, however wise and prudent they may be. They 
are of human authority, however sacred we may re- 
gard them. 

Now the gift of Ordination is a Divine deposit, given 

28 * (329) 



830 The Memorial Papers. 

of Christ to our Bishops, for the world. Why should 
this Divine gift and trust, be withheld from those of 
the world who wish to obtain and enjoy it? Why 
should our Bishops be forced to refuse Ordination to 
any persons (fitly prepared and called inwardly) by 
reason of a human and revocable condition ? Why 
should the human device be allowed to hinder the 
distribution of the Divine deposit ? Why should 
man's law forbid the execution of the Divine com- 
mand ? 

Our Bishops, like St. Paul, are " debtors" to the 
nations. Let them offer to ordain men to the ministry 
of the Catholic Church, requiring only conditions 
antecedent, which are Catholic. Our Liturgy and 
articles are not Catholic but provincial. 

The Faith (i. e. the Creeds) are Catholic ; the Sacra- 
ments are Catholic ; the requirement of an inward 
call by the Holy Ghost is Catholic. These Catholic 
conditions are of God, and they should, therefore, be 
demanded as conditions precedent to Ordination. 

I would, therefore, that our Bishops suffer no 
hindrance in ordaining to the Apostolic ministry those 
persons who are inwardly called, who receive the 
Creeds, and adhere to the two Sacraments. Other 
requirements frustrate the grace of Christ, so far as 
He required ministers to be sent and called as was 
Aaron. You cannot fulfil the Lord's will, while the 
Canons of our Church are left in their stiffness. I 
would not relax them, however, for the ministry of 
our branch of the Church Catholic, that is the Pro- 



Dr. Vinton's Communication. 331 

testant Episcopal Church in the United States. I 
would admit no man to the ministry thereof, but only 
such as accept ex animo, the requisites and conditions 
our laws impose. None other should minister over 
our parishes, or sit in our conventions, or share in 
our legislation. 

It is not proposed to loosen any of the checks or 
bars under which we, as a Church, have prospered. 

But I would admit ministers to the true Apostolic 
ministry, and let them serve congregations such as 
the Methodists and Presbyterians, &c. And I have 
such faith in the utility of a Liturgy, as to believe 
that its necessity and expediency would assert them- 
selves. They who are made one with us in the 
Apostolic doctrine and fellowship, and in baptism and 
breaking of bread, would soon become harmonious 
with us in Common Prayers. 

What causes the schism in the One Body of Christ ? 

I answer, the want of ordination among the minis- 
ters of the sects ; and the want of confirmation by 
Apostolic hands among the members of the same. 

Give Bishops, Priests, and Deacons to those secta- 
rian denominations, and the schism in Christ's Body 
is at once healed. I say nothing of baptism, leaving 
lay baptism in its mooted position. But ordain the 
ministers according to the Memorial, and lay baptism 
ceases, or nearly so. 

I remain yours affectionately, 
Francis Vinton. 

July 3d, 1854. 



REV. J. F. YOUNG'S COMMUNICATION. 



To the Et. Kev. James H. Otey, D, D., Chairman of the Com- 
mission on the Memorial. 

Right Reverend and Dear Sir :— 

Although I have felt not a little interested in the 
matters involved in the "Memorial Movement," I had 
no thought of troubling you with any communication 
upon the subject; nor should I have done so, but for 
our conversation upon the matter when I had the 
pleasure of meeting you a short time since. 

It is certainly not a little remarkable that the feel- 
ing which so extensively prevails in our Church, and 
has recently sought embodiment in the form of a Memo- 
rial to the House of Bishops, has pervaded simulta- 
neously, and no less extensively, our mother Church 
of England, and striven to make itself a practical 
reality there, through the action of Convocation, and 
the appointment of a Commission precisely similar, 

(332) 



J. F. Young's Communication. 333 

if I remember correctly, to the one recently appointed 
by our House of Bishops, the Chairman of which I 
now have the honour to address. Why is all this ? 
It must be a serious and important want to make 
itself so widely felt, and so universally acknowledged, 
and which prays so importunately for relief to the 
Fathers and Rulers of the Church. The Church is 
acting wisely, most wisely, in my humble judgment, 
in that she is not turning a deaf ear to the demands of 
the times, as she has too often done, with the saddest 
consequences ; but is thoughtfully and seriously in- 
quiring how she can best provide for the wants of her 
children, and render most effective her various minis- 
trations unto the salvation of a lost and perishing 
world. 

The objection so strongly urged against this move- 
ment, by the more conservative portion of the Church, 
that it is radical and disorganizing, imperilling, if not 
the integrity of our Catholic faith, certainly the integ- 
rity of the Book of Common Prayer, and the estab- 
lished principles and practices of sound and well 
authorized ritual use, however it may, or may not 
hold in regard to some features of this movement 
(which it is not my present purpose to discuss), does 
NOT hold, I think, so far as respects more flexibility 
in the Prayer Book offices — a wider discretion in their 
u Se — and a better adaptation of them to the different 
seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year. 

There is a very important fact bearing directly upon 



334 The Memorial Papers. 

this matter, to which I have seen no allusion made as 
yet, and to which it is the purpose of the present 
communication respectfully to invite your attention. 
It is, that all substantially which the Memorialists 
ask for, so far as respects the worship of the Church, 
not only can be granted by the warrant of the best 
ritual authorities, but would restore our offices much 
nearer to their original design and use, than is our 
present practice; and this too by simply a few rubri- 
cal changes, without disturbing in the least " the 
Prayer Book as it is," or changing one word of 
the body of its contents. 

And it is a most striking proof of the wisdom and 
surpassing excellence of the original arrangements, 
that, after departing from them for a considerable 
time, the instincts and cravings of the widely extended 
communions of England and America should, without 
the slightest reference to any ritual antecedents, and 
in utter unconsciousness of them generally, demand 
such discretionary liberties in the use of the Prayer 
Book Offices as, if exercised, would in the most im- 
portant respects restore them to what was the obliga- 
tory use of the original Offices when ours were com- 
piled from them. In this one fact lies the solution of 
all the difficulties with which the ritual portion of this 
movement is surrounded, as it seems to me, while from 
it we may derive the most salutary of all admonitions, 
that of personal experience, that we presume not to 
wander a single step farther than we have already 



J. F. Young's Communication. 335 

done from those venerable usages, which, as estab- 
lished in the originals of our Prayer Book Offices, 
were the result and embodiment of fifteen centuries 
of the Church's best learning, and study, and piety, 
and experience. 

I have before me as I write, and from which chiefly 
I shall cite the proofs and illustrations of what I have 
said, a translation of " The Psalter, or Seven Ordinary 
Hours of Prayer, according to the use of the Illustrious 
and Excellent Church of Sarum," with " The Litany" 
and other Occasional Offices, together with " the more 
important variations of the York and Hereford Uses." 
These, as you are well aware, are the Offices, with 
their Rubrics, Anthems, Hymns, &c, out of which our 
Prayer Book was compiled, and which every one who 
would understand the rationale of the same, would be 
interested and instructed by carefully studying. 

What is sought for by the Memorialists in the mat- 
ter of Divine worship may be embraced for the most 
part, I believe, under two heads. 

First, More flexibility in the Prayer Boole Offices, 
and freedom in their use. 

Secondly, Their fuller adaptation to the Festivals 
and Fasts, and closer general sympathy ivith the 
changes of the ritual year. 

The means very generally suggested, and acquiesced 
in, for attaining what is specified under the first head, 
are, I believe, the separate use, and different combi- 
nations of the Morning and Evening Prayer, Litany, 
and Holy Communion. 



336 The Memorial Papers. 

To make it the more manifest when and how far 
this may be done in accordance with ancient prece- 
dent, allow me to remark very briefly upon the 
specific origin of our Offices, and to cite a few of the 
more important Rubrics which regulated the use, and 
therefore indicate the scope of their Originals ; not, I 
scarcely need say, for the purpose of communicating 
information upon a subject respecting which I would 
gladly learn of you, but as the necessary basis of 
what I have to say. 

The Offices for the Seven Daily Hours of Prayer, 
and the times for their use respectively, were, as you 
w T ell know, Matins, from after midnight, or "very 
early in the morning while it was yet dark;" Lauds, 
at the breaking of day; Prime, at 6 A. M., or 
between that and 9 A. m. ; Terce, at 9, or between 
that and 12 ; Sext, at 12, or between that and 3 P. 
M. ; None, at 3, or between that and 6 ; Vespers, at 
sunset, or between that and 9 ; and Compline, or 
Completorium, at bedtime. But after the persecu- 
tions of the Christians ceased, and with them the 
occasion for nocturnal assemblages, it appears that 
Matins and Lauds (and Prime, after it was instituted), 
to which was sometimes added Terce, came to be said 
by aggregation, as one continued Morning Office. 

Now, of this aggregated office our Morning Prayer 
is a careful and exact compendium, as the following 
comparative synopsis will show : — 



J. F. Young's Communication. 337 



ANCIENT ENGLISH OFFICES. 


REVISED OFFICE 


MATINS. 


LAUDS. 


PRIME. 


MORNING PRAYER. 


In the Name - - 


Verse & Response 


In the Name - - 


Sentences. 
Exhortation. 


( (Privately) 




[See below] - - - 
Our Father (Priv.) 


Conf. Absol. 




Our Father. 
Lord, open. 


^ V/U.JT X tlLUcI • ■ 




\j J-iorclj open ■ ■ 






God, make - - 


God, make - - 


God, make - - 


God, make. 


Glory be - - - - 


Glory be - - - - 


Glory be - - - - 


Glory be. 


Alleluia - - - - 


Alleluia ~ ~ \ 


Alleluia - - - \ 
or Praise be - j 


f Praise ye 

( The Lord's Name. 


or Praise be - - 


©»• Praise be - - 


Invitatory Anthem 








T^q ~V*mii*<i - ■> - 






Ps. Venite. 


ITIS. T cI_Li.Lt? • ■ ■ 

Hymn 




Hymn 


12. Pss. 6. Ants. - 


5. Pss. & Ants. - 


3. Pss. 1. Ant. - - 


Psalms. 


(S. 18. Pss. 9. Ants.) 


(S. Jubilate) - - 
Glorias - - - - 


(S. 9. Ps. 1. Ant.) 


(in course.) 


Glorias .... 


Glorias - - - - 


Glorias. 


Antiphon - - - 


Antiphon - - - 


Antiphon 




Benedictions 


. 






A lection of 3 or^| 






f First Lesson 
1 Old Test. 


y ljessons ~ - > 
0. T. N. T. Horn. J 






Responsaries - \ 
(S.TeDeum) - J 






Te Deum. 








Canticle - - - - 


Athan. Creed 


or 




(S. Benedicite) 




Benedicite. 




Short Chapter - - 


Short Chapter - - 


Second Less. N. T. 




Hymn 








Tionorlir»'f na _ _ — 




Benedictus. 
Jubilate. 




JJtJliCU.lL.tUa - - - 




[_DctJ cHJUVcJ ~ " " 








[See above] - • - 
[See below] - - - 


Athan. Creed 






or Ap. Creed. 




TTif» T,nrrf "ha 




The Lord be. 
Let us pray. 




X— It) liUlU UO " " 

Let us pray - - 


f Petitions and 
\ Short Litany - 




Short Litany. 






Our Father - - - 


Our Father. 






Ap. Creed - - - 








Petitions - - - 


Petitions. 






Conf. Absol. - - 






Collect for Day - 




Collect for Day. 








Collect for Peace. 






Collect for Grace - 


Collect for Grace. 






Intercessions - - 


Intercessions. 
Thanksgiving. 






Benediction - - 1 
14. "The grace" J 


f Benediction. 
\ " The grace" 


Short Chap, at Terce 


(Sunday), 2 Cor. xiii 



The dotted lines in the above show from which of the old Offices the parts of our 
own are derived. S. signifies Sunday. 



I have taken the English Prayer Boot for the com- 
parison, rather than our own, for the sake of brevity 



338 The Memorial Papers. 

and simplicity, it being a little nearer to the originals, 
as I shall do likewise when I come to speak of the 
Evening Prayer. 

At the end of Terce, of which the last sentence in 
our Morning Prayer is the representative, it being, as 
appears above, the Sunday Capitulum, or Short Les- 
son, in that Office, on the week days of Lent, the xv. 
Gradual Psalms (cxx. to cxxxiv. inclusive) were said, 
followed by the Litany.* 

Immediately after Terce commonly followed the 
Liturgy, or Communion Office, though sometimes it- 
came before Terce. The next office in order is Sext, 
and after this sometimes came the Communion. 
Next was None, at the end of which (as at the end 
of Terce daily), on the Wednesdays and Fridays of 
Lent, the Litany was said. Here sometimes, instead 
of after Terce or Sext, followed the office for the Holy 
Communion. Yet, differing from all the foregoing, 
on Christmas Day, when there were three celebrations 
of the Eucharist, one took place at the end of Matins 
immediately after the Te Deum, and the others at 
later hours. f 

* " Here, on week-days in Quadragesima (beginning with the 
Monday after the first Sunday), the xv. Gradual Psalms fol- 
lowed by the Litany, until Wednesday before Easter, inclusive/' 
— Trans. Sariun Psalt. Rub. at the end of Terce, p. 134. 

f " On all Simple Sundays, i. e. which were not Feast days, 
the Communion office came after Terce. 

On Week-days it was generally at the same hour. But on 
the first Monday in Advent it was before Terce. In Lent it 



J. F. Young's Communication. 339 

The Roman rule in this matter differs somewhat 
from the old English use, and still further illustrates, 
therefore — what I am endeavouring to prove to be 
legitimately and safely attainable — flexibility and 
freedom in combining and using the different Offices 
of the Church, according to the varying exigencies of 
times and occasions.* 

I refer to the authorities of the Roman Church, not, 
of course, as authority for us, except so far as they go 
towards making up the consent of Christendom touch- 
ing any particular matter, but merely to show that 

was after None, except in Feasts, when the Communion Service 
* for the Feast came before Terce. 

On Christmas-Day there were three different celebrations: 
one after Te Deum in Matins ; another after [Prime ?] and 
another after Terce." — Derived from the Consuetudinary of 
Sarum, and given in the Trans, of the Sar. Psalt. p. 439. 

* " Missa privata saltern post Matutinum et Laudes qua- 
cumque hora ab aurora usque ad meridiem dici potest. 

" Missa autem conventualis et solemnis sequenti ordine dici 
debet. In festis Duplicibus, et Semiduplicibus, in Dominicis, 
et infra Octavas, dicta in choro Hora Tertia. In festis Simpli- 
cibus, et feriis per annum dicta Sexta. In Adventu, Quadra- 
gesima, Quatuor Temporibus, etiam infra Octavam Pentacostes, 
etvigiliis quae jejunantur, quamvis sint dies solemnes, Missa de 
Tempore debet cantari post Nonam." * * 

"Excipiuntur ab hoc ordine dicendi Missam conventualem 
Missae in Nativitate Domini, quarum prima dicitur post mediam 
noctem, finito Te Deum laudamus, in Matutino, secunda in 
aurora, dictis Laudibus et Prima, tertia vero in die post Ter- 
tiam, vel ubi aliter ex dispensatione apostolica disponatur." 
Rub. Gen. Miss. XV. [De hora celebrandi Missam ) 



340 The Memorial Papers. 

our one, rigid, and unvarying time and manner of 
using each of our Prayer Book Offices, is in direct 
contrariety to the practice of the whole of the Western 
Church, besides our own Communion ; as I shall pre- 
sently show it to be a departure from the original 
practice of the Reformed Church of England. 

I would remark further, in regard to the lesser or 
mid-day Hours, that they could be said, when circum- 
stances required it, by aggregation, at any one of the 
hours between Prime and Vespers inclusive. When 
said, it w T as in their entireness, as a general rule, 
including, of course, Penitential Psalms, Litanies, 
Pestal Commemorations, and Special Prayers, as they 
pertained to one or other Office for the day or season. 

We come next to Vespers and Compline, the 
sources of our Evening Prayer, and can best show its 
relation to them by an analytical table, similar to what 
was just given to illustrate the origin of our Morning 
Prayer. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 341 



EARLY ENGLISH OFFICES. 



In the Name 



Our Father {Priv.) 



God, make 
5. Pss. & Ants. 
Glorias - - 
Short chapter 
Hymn 
Magnificat - 



Short Litany 
Our Father - 
Petitions - - 



Collect for Day - 
Collect for Peace 



In the Name 



[See below] - - - 
Turn Thou us 
Our Father (Priv.) 

God, make - - 
4 Pss. 1 Ant. - - 
Glorias .... 



Short Chapter - 
Hymn - - - - 
Nunc Dimittis - 

[See below] - - 
Short Litany - 
Our Father - - 
Petitions - - - 
Conf. Absolution 



Collect for Aid 
Intercessions 



Benediction 
Our Father. 
Ap. Creed. 



REVISED OFFICE. 



EVENING PRATER. 



Sentences. 
Exhortation. 
Conf. Absolution. 

Our Father. 
Lord, open. 
God, make. 
The Psalms. 
Glorias. 
First Lesson. 
Psalm xcviii, or 
Magnificat. 
Second Lesson. 
Ps. lxvii. or 
Nunc Dimittis. 
Ap. Creed. 
Short Litany. 
Our Father. 
Petitions. 

Collect for Day. 
Collect for Peace. 
Collect for Aid. 
Intercessions. 
Thanksgiving. 
Benediction. 



These Offices, as well as those for the morning, were 
often said by aggregation in practical use, of which, 
as appears from the foregoing table, our Evening 
Prayer is a no less admirable compendium than is the 
Morning Prayer of Matins, Lauds, and Prime. And 
it here occurs to me to suggest that in providing for 
two Evening Offices, which are so greatly needed in our 
Church, a reference to the old arrangement may afford 
valuable aid. Not that anything should be allowed 
to supersede our present Office when there is but one 
evening service, as it is undoubtedly the best aggrega- 



29^ 



342 The Memorial Papers. 

tion of the two that could possibly be devised, to say 
nothing of the strong hold which it has, in its present 
form, upon the affections and associations of our peo- 
ple, which is enough, of itself, to counterbalance 
many minor reasons for change, even did they exist. 

Towards the end of Vespers, as also of Lauds (just 
where the Versicles stand after the Creed, and before 
the Collect for the day, in our Morning and Evening 
Prayer), on the week days of Advent and Lent, and 
upon Ember days certain "Preces" (Penitential ver- 
sicles), ending at Lauds with Ps. 130, " Out of the 
deep," &c, and at Vespers with the 51st Psalm, 
" Have mercy upon me," &c, were said, according to 
the more common ritual usage, which were followed 
immediately by the Collect for the day, and any spe- 
cial Commemoration of the time, as with us during 
Advent and Lent. In the Sarum use, however, these 
same Petitions, ending always with the 51st Psalm, 
were said not only at Lauds and Vespers, but at 
Terce, Sext, and None, in the Week-day Office for the 
greater part of the Year.* 

* " These petitions (1) are to be said thus: at Matins, Terce, 
Sext, None, and Vespers, in all week-days throughout Advent, 
and from the First Sunday after the Octave of the Epiphany to 
the Supper of the Lord [Thursday before Easter], and from the 
First Sunday after Trinity to the Advent of the Lord, in the 
ordinary weekly service, except at Matins on Wednesday and 
Friday, and Saturday of the Four Times of Advent, and except 
at Vespers, from '0 Sapientia' to the last '0' inclusive." [De- 
cember 16th to 25th.]— Tr. Sar. Psalt. p. 173. 



C 1 ) See Appendix A. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 343 

Next after the Offices for the Seven Hours follow 
the Collects for the year, then the Penitential Psalms, 
of which much more account seems formerly to have 
been made than now by us. A column of Rubrics 
precedes them, prescribing the times for their use, 
among which were, — after sermon at Sext on Ash- 
Wednesday, and after the Office for each of the Seven 
Hours, one, in regular order, thus going through them 
daily during Lent. 

Finally, so far as concerns our present purpose, we 
come to " The Greater Litany," — the original of our 
own — in six parts, one for each day of the week (ex- 
cept Sunday) during Lent, the first four petitions, or 
invocations of the Trinity preceding each portion, 
except on Holy Saturday, the vigil of Easter. From 
the page of Rubrics prefacing it, I transcribe such 
passages as prescribe the times of its use.* 

* " The Litany, preceded by the xv. Gradual Psalms * * 
was said for all the people of God, after Terce in the Week-days 
of Quadragesima, i. e. from Monday after the first Sunday to 
Wednesday before Easter inclusive, all without note. But 
besides this, on every Wednesday and Friday in Quadragesima 
* * after None * * was said the Litany." 

******* 

" On Monday, in Rogations, after None, the usual Procession 
took place from the Cathedral to some Church in the city ; in 
.the end of which, preceded by the Seven Penitential Psalms, 
was said the full Litany, with the Petitions and Prayers, with- 
out note, unless it was a Festival, when it was otherwise. On 
Tuesday and Wednesday in Rogations the same took place, 
except that the Litanies then used varied in the invocations and 



344 The Memorial Papers. 

To this cursory glance at the various times of using 
and modes of combining the ancient Offices of the 
Church, of which ours are the legitimate offspring, I 
need not add a word by way of applying to our pre- 
sent circumstances the deductions which are obvious, 
at first thought, from the facts exhibited. We have 
seen the Offices for all the Hours used separately, 
or combined with others — the Litany and Gradual 
Psalms, and the Litany and Penitential Psalms, some- 
times combined with the Morning Offices, sometimes 
with the Evening, and sometimes used as a distinct 
Service — while we find the Eucharistic Office, complete 
in itself, sometimes following immediately upon Matins, 
at the end of Te Deum, sometimes at Terce, or Sext, or 
None, before or after, with or without the Litany and 
Penitential Psalms, as they pertained to the Season 
or the Office, which it immediately preceded or fol- 
lowed. What further sanction than the common 
consent and law of all western Christendom can our 
High Churchmen possibly desire, to warrant the sepa- 
rate use, or every possible combination, if need be, of 
the Morning and Evening Prayer, Litany and Com- 
munion Office, as the different seasons suggest, and 
our varying circumstances and necessities require, so 
long as not one sentence of Rubric or Canon forbids 
us this freedom, and, as can be easily shown, the 

musical notation, and were chanted. Besides these, Litanies 
were chanted in procession at other times : as for favourable 
weather, in time of pestilence, for peace, in famine, or for other 
causes." — Trans. Sarum. Psalt. p. 406. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 345 

early practice of the Church of England abundantly 
sanctions it ? 

Although all references for you are quite unneces- 
sary, so familiar are you with this whole subject, I 
cannot forbear writing out a few authorities, which, 
it seems to me, must be conclusive with every candid 
mind. 

To say nothing of the proof which the Offices them- 
selves afford, by their very construction and fulness, 
that they were designed for separate use, it may be 
seen by reference to the first three editions of the 
English Prayer Book, that the following Rubric stands 
at the beginning of the Office for the Holy Commu- 
nion. " So many as intend to be partakers of the 
Holy Communion, shall signify their names to the 
Curate over night, or else in the morning afore the be- 
ginning of Morning Prayer, or immediately after" — 
the last clause showing that there was an interval 
between Morning Prayer and Holy Communion. 

At the head of the Commination Office in all the 
editions of the Prayer Book, from 1549 to 1662 (the 
date of the last revision), stands the following Rubric : 
" After Morning Prayer, the people being called 
together by the ringing of a bell, and assembled in 
church, the English Litany shall be said after the ac- 
customed manner, which ended," &c, showing that 
there was an interval between the Morning Prayer 
and Litany. 

Mr. Jebb, an acknowledged authority in the ritual 
matters of the Church of England, says: " The origi- 



346 The Memorial Papers. 

nal custom of the Church, Eastern and Western, was 
to celebrate the Matins and the Communion at different 
hours. Such is still the custom at the Cathedrals of 
Winchester, Worcester, and Hereford, at the College 
of Winchester, and, as Wheatly informs us, formerly 
at Merton College, Oxford; and tradition gives the 
same account of Canterbury, and possibly of many 
other places. It would appear from passages in 
Archbishop Grindal's Life, that the same custom pre- 
vailed in the Diocese of York, till altered by his au- 
thority.* 

Heylyn says : " This was the ancient practice of the 
Church of England. The Morning Prayer or Matins, 
to begin between six and seven ; the second service 
or Communion-service, not till nine or ten, which dis- 
tribution still continues in the Cathedral Church of 
Winchester, in that of Southwell, and perhaps some 

others, "f 

That the Litany was used as a distinct Office, is 
likewise abundantly manifest. The Rubric prefacing 
it in the Prayer Book of 1549 prescribes that, " upon 
Wednesdays and Fridays the English Litany shall be 
said or sung in all places, after such form as is ap- 
pointed by the King's Majesty's injunctions." 

In the xlviii. of Elizabeth's injunctions, 1559, it 
was ordered "that weekly, upon Wednesdays and 
Fridays, not being holy-days, the curate, at the accus- 
tomed hours of service shall resort to church, and 

* Choral Service, p. 227. 
f Antidotum, Part iii. 61. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 347 

cause warning to be given to the people by knolling 
of a bell, and say the Litany and prayers,"* i. e. ap- 
parently, the prayers which were printed at the end 
of the Litany. See Grindal, below. 

Bishop Davies, of St. Asaph, orders, 1561, " That 
the Parsons, Vicars, and Curates, or one of them in 
every of their churches, do come together on Wednes- 
days and Fridays, being not holy-days, and then 
devoutly sing and say the Litany, "f 

Grindal, as Archbishop of York, prescribed, 1571, 
"the Litany and other prayers appointed for the 
day," on Wednesdays and Fridays in the forenoon, 
and Evening Prayer " every Saturday and holy- 
even. J 

Bishop Montague, of Norwich, 1638, asks, "Doth 
[your Minister] upon Wednesdays and Fridays ordi- 
narily, and at other extraordinary times, appointed by 
the Ordinary, read and pray the Litany ?"§ 

Proctor, in his treatise on the Common Prayer, 
says, " The English Litany was originally intended to 
be a distinct Office. It was put forth as a separate 
book by Henry VIII." | " The Litany is generally 
used by itself on the occasion of a Confirmation."^" 

That the Office for the Holy Communion may be 
used as a distinct service, we need not go beyond our 
own Prayer Book for proof. The Rubric at the begin- 

* Doc. Ann. 1. 196. t Wilkins, Concilia, iv. 229. 

% Remains. 123. § Doc. Ann. ii, p. 68. 

il Hist, and Rationale, 229. \ Ibid. Note, 230. 



348 The Memorial Papers. 

ning of this Office provides that "the Lord's Prayer 
may be omitted if Morning Prayer hath been said 
immediately before," which implies, of course, that it 
may not have been said immediately before. 

As indicating the time when the change from the 
earlier usage of the Church of England took place, 
the instrumentality by which it was effected, and the 
authority therefore on which the later usage rests, I 
cannot forbear adding the injunction of Grindal, 
Archbishop of York, put forth in 1571, in which he 
directs the clergy "not to pause or stay between 
Morning Prayer, Litany, or Communion ; but to con- 
tinue and say Morning Prayer, Litany, and Commu- 
nion (or the service appointed to be read when there 
is no Communion), together without any intermis- 
sion."* " In the same Archbishop's articles for Can- 
terbury," " he forbids ringing between Morning 
Prayer and the Litany, "f 

The injunctions of an Archbishop of the Church of 
England, " whose early foreign training, as is evident 
from many circumstances of his life, had incapacitated 
him from a sufficiently discriminative estimate of our 
Liturgy, "J are the authority, as it thus appears, on 
which rests our present practice, over against which 
may be set the general usage of all Western, and in- 
deed Eastern Christendom up to that time, and the 
absence of all legislation, confirming such injunctions 

* Life of Grindal, Bk. ii. chap. 2. 
t Robertson on the Liturgy, p. 129. 
% Jebb. 227. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 349 

as the Church's law, either in England or America, 
up to this hour. 

The conclusion, therefore, to which we are brought 
as the summary of the whole matter is, that " as the 
practice of uniting the services began so early, and 
has not been censured or discountenanced by the later 
revisers of the Prayer Boole, we need not doubt that 
it is sufficiently sanctioned; while, on the other 

HAND, IT IS EVIDENT THAT A DISTINCTNESS WAS 
ORIGINALLY PROVIDED FOR, AND STILL REMAINS LAW- 
FUL."* 

But notwithstanding the abundant authorities ad- 
duced (to which many more might be added), both 
from ancient ritual precedent and the earlier use of 
the Reformed Church of England, for the separate 
use of the Prayer Book Offices, there yet remains a 
difficulty to be met before we can attain what is desi- 
rable in the matter of their flexibility. 

It is not to be supposed that ecclesiastical antece- 
dents, or even legislative enactments, will make our 
people satisfied with foregoing one-half of the service 
to which they have been accustomed on the Lord's 
day, and which is generally, and rightly felt not to be 
too great a "sacrifice of praise" to be offered on that 
holy day to the Father of Mercies and God of all 
Comfort. Nor in country parishes, which are, and 
ever will be, the great majority in our Church, is it 
practicable for the people to assemble at different 

* Kobertson on the Liturgy, p. 129. 
30 



350 The Memorial Papers. 

hours on Sunday morning for Morning Prayer and 
Holy Communion. 

It is therefore well worthy of consideration whether 
the omission of certain parts of the Offices of Morning 
Prayer and Holy Communion might not be left to the 
discretion of the minister when the two are to concur 
on Communion Sunday. 

As the matter now stands, we have several Exhor- 
tations, general Confessions, general Supplications, 
and general Thanksgivings. Two Lessons from the Old 
Testament (including the Decalogue), three from .the 
Gospels (including the summary after the Decalogue), 
and one from the Epistles. There is the Exhortation 
and Confession at the beginning of Morning Prayer — 
the greater general Confession and Supplication of 
the Litany — another general Supplication in the 
Prayer for the Church Militant — .another general 
Exhortation immediately following — another general 
Confession— still another in the Prayer of Humble 
Access, and then the crowning climax of all confession, 
supplication, and thanksgiving, in the whole Euchar- 
istic Service. Is there not obviously a redundancy 
here which could be curtailed without essential loss, 
when these Offices, each of which is so full and com- 
plete for separate use, are brought together and vir- 
tually compacted into one ? 

The Exhortations with which our Offices abound, as 
you well know, were no part of their originals ; nor 
was the Decalogue recited in the Communion Office 
till 1552. The first were necessary at the time they 



J. F. Young's Communication. 351 

were inserted, because of the deficiency of preaching 
and ignorance of the clergy ; and the second, as well 
as the first, because of the gross ignorance of the peo- 
ple. These causes, which furnished such abundant rea- 
sons for the additions then made to the ancient Offices, 
happily do not now exist to any such extent as they 
did then. Suppose then the redundancy in these 'par- 
ticulars be curtailed, or the use of it be made discre- 
tional. This would meet the wishes of the Memo- 
rialists in a way not justly obnoxious to the strictest 
of Ritualists. One could then begin with the Lord's 
Prayer, and, following the present order of the Morn- 
ing Prayer to the transition to the Litany, if it were 
to be said, go through with that to the end of the 
Prayer, "We humbly beseech Thee," &c, thence to 
the Collect for Purity in the Communion Office, and 
from that, passing over the Decalogue, to the Collect, 
Epistle, and Gospel, for the Day. Or, if the Litany 
were not to be said, at the place of transition, taking 
instead of it the Collect for Purity, then that for the 
Day, &c, as before. The special advantage of this 
arrangement is, that, while it abbreviates considerably 
the Morning Office, it preserves the integrity of what 
constituted the original Offices, and gives occasion for 
no confusion or embarrassment of the congregation 
from uncertainty as to the posture to be assumed in 
anticipation of what is to follow. Whether the Minis- 
ter should take the Litany, or Collect for Purity, at 
the end of the Prayer for the President, would make no 
difference, for the congregation are already kneeling; 



352 The Memorial Papers. 

and whether lie should begin to rehearse the Com- 
mandments, or to recite the Collect for the Day, is to 
them the same, for still they are kneeling, in posture 
for either; and can make no response till something is 
uttered for them to respond to. An arrangement 
of this sort, or at any rate upon this principle, would 
undoubtedly rid us of some redundancy, and compact 
our Offices into a better unity when used as one. It 
might be objected, I know, to such an order, that it 
would confound the distinction between the Offices of 
Morning Prayer and Holy Communion, which had 
better be preserved. Would it not the rather be 
virtually an expansion backwards of the Ante-Com- 
munion Office, or the making of that and the Morning 
Prayer united one great Ante-Communion Office ? 
For the Liturgy proper begins with the Sursum Corda, 
and all that precedes this is but preparatory to it.* 

In confirmation of the general idea contained in 
this suggestion, I quote the Rubric at the end of 
the Communion Office in the English Prayer Book 
of 1549.f 

"When the Holy Communion is celebrate on the 
work day, or in private houses : Then may be omitted 
the Gloria in Excelsis, the Creed, the Homily, and 
the Exhortation, beginning, "Dearly beloved," &c. 

* Missa Solemnis semper dicitur post aliquam Horam, etiam 
in nocte Nativitatis Domini : ut Horse Canonical sint quasi quse- 
dam ad Missam prseparatio. — Gavantus. Thes. Sacr. Bit. torn, 
i. p. 112. 

t Lit. of Ed. VI, p. 95, Parker Edit. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 353 

A few words upon one or two matters of detail, with 
your permission, while speaking of what is attainable 
in the way of flexibility. 

I believe there is no one thing, unimportant as it 
may be in itself, that is such a clog to the freedom and 
life of our services as the Exhortation before the 
General Confession. It is very well for use once a 
week, say, when a large congregation, consisting in 
part of undevout and perhaps very occasional worship- 
pers, demand something of the sort to call their atten- 
tion to the duty of worship, and render it therefore 
appropriate and effective ; but to be bound to its per- 
petual repetition, fourteen times every week, and 
twelve of these times to the devout few who not only 
understand their duty in this particular, but have torn 
themselves away from "the cares of this world" for 
the express purpose of performing it, and nothing else, 
is, to say the least, quite unnecessary. 

Now why could not the Rubric after the Sentences 
of Scripture be altered on this wise ? 

Then shall the Minister say, 

Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God, 

or else 

" Dearly beloved brethren," &c, as now. 

This would relieve the difficulty, and with it all 
objections to the introductory portion of our Morning 
and Evening Offices. It would be strictly analogous 
to the bidding before the prayer for the Church Mili- 
tant in our Communion Office — " Let us pray for the," 
&c, &c. And if further authority be desired by any 

30 * 



35-4 The Memorial Papers. 

it may be found in the York Offices, where, before the 
Confession of which ours is the amplification, may be 
seen, instead of our long Exhortation, the following, 

V. " Let us confess unto the Lord, for He is good. 

R. And His mercy endureth for ever."* 

This same verse and response stand before the Con- 
fession in the Communion Office in all the English Uses 
of Sarum, Bangor, York, and Hereford, and are pecu- 
liarly English ; as nothing of the sort stands before 
the Roman Conflteor, either in the Daily Offices, or 
Mass. 

It would often be preferable, however, because more 
simple and less formal, when but a few devout persons 
are assembled, to begin the Morning and Evening 
Offices with the Lord's Prayer, as was the usage from 
time immemorial in the Church of England till the 
revision of 1552. And a few words added to the first 
Rubric are all that is necessary to provide for this. 

I would respectfully suggest, likewise, whether the 
constant use of another exhortation might not be made 
discretional ? I refer to the first and longer part of 
the one preceding the General Confession in the Com- 
munion Office. " Dearly beloved in the Lord, &c," to 
" Ye who do truly, &c." In the Prayer Book of 1549, 
before the Exhortation stands this Rubric. f 

" After the Creed ended, shall follow the Sermon, 
or Homily, or some portion of one of the Homilies, as 
they shall be hereafter divided : wherein if the peo- 

* Trans. Sar. Psalt. pp. 119, 386. 
t Lit. Ed. vi. p. 79, Parker Ed. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 355 

pie be not exhorted to the worthy receiving of the 
holy Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour 
Christ, then shall the Curate give this Exhortation, to 
those that be minded to receive the same." " Dearly 
beloved in the Lord, &c." 

Now would not a restoration of this rule, or some 
similar provision, be advantageous in ridding us of 
that redundancy of Exhortations which so singularly 
characterize the English Offices, and serve not a little 
to check the fervour of our public worship, especially 
in the more Festive Seasons ? And permit me further 
to ask, — when this exhortation is used would it not be 
better to say it at the conclusion of the sermon, &c, 
as suggested by the Committee of the Upper House of 
the English Convocation, in the following language ? 

" Concerning this Exhortation, it was suggested to 
us, that being read, as it now~ is, after the withdrawal 
of all save those who have resolved at that time to 
communicate, and who must be supposed to have 
already examined themselves, and after such exami- 
nation to be now drawing near to eat of that bread 
and to drink of that cup, the strong expressions it 
contains as to the danger of an unworthy receiving 
are unseasonable, and are found in practice to disturb 
the minds of some of those who remain to communi- 
cate. These objections would, in our judgment, be in 
a great degree removed if this address were read, as 
the Exhortations which precede it are ordered to be 
read, at the conclusion of the sermon to the whole 
congregation, rather than after the Prayer for the 



356 The Memorial Papers. 

Church Militant. Having regard to the place of this 
Exhortation after the two which immediately precede 
it, and which are distinctly ordered to be read at the 
close of the sermon, and to its tenour as applicable to 
the whole congregation, consisting of those who have, 
or have not, yet resolved to remain and communicate, 
rather than to those who have already begun to take 
part in the Communion Office, there does not appear 
to be so distinct a settlement of the place in the ser- 
vice at which this Exhortation must be read as to 
prove that it may not be read immediately after the 
sermon, and before, instead of after, the Prayer for 
the Church Militant, when the Holy Communion is 
administered." 

A more important matter, however, than single Ex- 
hortations, is some general provision for both shorter 
and longer Offices. The former is a desideratum 
very often for Week-day services, and for shortening 
the Sunday service without omitting any Office, when 
the Litany or Communion Office, or both, are conjoined 
with the Morning or Evening Prayer ; and the latter 
for seasons of unusual solemnity (as Holy Week and 
High Festivals), when it would be agreeable to many 
to prolong materially their devotions, appropriating a 
considerable portion of the day to exercises of worship 
in the house of prayer. This would tend, I think, to 
render our services less perfunctory, and more earnest, 
and could be easily attained by appointing for such 
more solemn seasons continuous series of Psalms, 
Lessons, and Homilies or Meditations, with respon- 



J. F. Young's Communication. 357 

sary Canticles, Hymns, &c, leaving it to the discre- 
tion of the minister to use one or more according to 
circumstances. In this way could be secured all the 
substantial advantages of social meetings for devotion 
alone, so much in favour with our Non-Episcopal 
brethren, without their irregularities, and other disad- 
vantages. Indeed all necessary variety as to length, 
could be obtained for the service on any day of the 
year, without disturbing, in the least, the present 
order of our Offices, by appointing portions of Scrip- 
ture in two or more parts for the Lessons, and by 
providing Selections of Psalms varying in length, 
leaving it to the discretion of the minister to read a 
part or the whole of the portions appointed for the 
Lessons, and to use the Psalter for the day or a long 
or short Selection. 

For entrusting to the minister such a discretionary 
power, abundant precedents may be found in both 
primitive and later times. " The memorials of the 
Apostles or the writings of the Prophets were read as 
long as the time permitted" says Justin Martyr.* 
" Then let the same clerk who pronounces the Bene- 
diction (t. e. before the Lesson), when enough at his 
discretion has been read, say, But thou, Lord, &c." 
says the Rubric in the Use of Sarum,f respecting 
the Lesson-which follows the Psalmody in the Second 
Nocturn of the Matin Office, answering to our First 
Lesson at Morning Prayer. Indeed the construction 

* Apology, 1. f Trans. Sar. Psalt. p. 48. 



358 The Memorial Papers. 

of all the old Matutinal Offices, consisting as they do, 
sometimes of 3 Nocturns, comprising 18 Psalms, and 
9 Lessons, and sometimes of 1 Nocturia, comprising 
12 Psalms and 3 Lessons, and sometimes of other 
numbers of both Psalms and Lessons, affords an abund- 
ant exhibition and illustration of this principle. 

But I fear I am trespassing too much upon your 
time, and will hasten to the statement of the few 
thoughts I have to offer under the second head ; viz. — 

The fuller adaptation of our Offices to the Festivals 
and Fasts, and their closer general sympathy with 
the changes of the Ritual Year. 

And here allow me to remark, lest what I have to 
say should be thought to indicate, in any degree, a 
want of appreciation of "the Prayer Book as it is," 
that a study in detail of the Liturgical and Ritual 
Offices of the Western Church, and to some extent of 
the Eastern, has led me to admire more and more the 
w T isdom, judgment, and moderation with which ours 
were compacted out of the old originals, and to wish 
that they may remain essentially the same, a monument 
of honour to those who compiled them, and an enduring 
treasure to us who inherit them. But this implies by 
no means, I think, that we must content ourselves to 
use just these Offices and nothing else, on every occa- 
sion for which they can possibly be made to answer, 
any more than a due veneration for the Lord's Prayer 
implies that we use besides this no other prayers. If 
it be enough, as we all say, that we frame our prayers 



J. F. Young's Communication. 359 

" after this manner, " so they do not set aside the use, 
at times, of this particular form, is it not enough that 
we model other Offices, when we feel the need of them, 
after the pattern of our acknowledged standard, so 
the new is not allowed to supersede the old ? Surely, 
the most extravagant veneration for the Reformers 
cannot require a more exclusive adherence to the 
forms of worship they delivered unto us than the 
whole Church has practised with respect to the form 
of Prayer dictated by our Lord Himself. Retaining, 
then, our present Offices, just as they are, for the Sun- 
days and Festivals of the half-year from Trinity to 
Advent, for which nothing better could be devised, I 
would suggest that upon their basis and after their 
form, special offices like, for instance, our Office for 
Thanksgiving Day, might be provided for the remain- 
ing half-year, to be placed at the end of the Prayer 
Book, as are the proper Psalms for certain days, and 
likewise the Proper Lessons, in some editions, and to 
be designated by some such term as The Proper of 
the Time. This would give us all that is desirable in 
the way of light and shade, leave untouched in its 
integrity, what we now have, and provide us fully with 
what we confessedly need. It would be the introduc- 
tion of no new, deranging principle, but only the car- 
rying out a little more fully that on which our Collects, 
Epistles, and Gospels, Proper Psalms and Proper 
Lessons, have been already provided, and is sub- 
stantially the same as the Resolution of the English 
Convocation recommended touching this matter, as the 



360 The Memorial Papers. 

following extract from the Report of their Proceed- 
ings will show : — 

" Resolved, That we consider that in any alteration 
of services, it should be a fundamental principle that 
the Book of Common Prayer should be maintained 
entire and unaltered, except so far as shall concern 
the Rubrics, and the division of Services, and the forma- 
tion of new services by the recombination of those now 
existing, with such alterations in the Psalter and 
Table of Lessons, as may be judged fit." 

The italics are my own. 

The English Church has, to a considerable extent, 
acted upon this principle ever since the Reformation. 
In the Second Book of Edward VI., there is a 
long table of Proper Psalms and Lessons for divers 
Feasts and Fasts at Morning and Evening Prayer.* 
And the Parker Society's collection of Liturgical 
Offices set forth in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, con- 
tains over 200 pages, at the end of the volume, of 
just such Offices, many of them, as I would suggest to 
be contained in the Proper of the Time. And in the 
present English Prayer Book the Offices for the Anni- 
versaries of the Gun Powder Treason, King Charles 
the Martyr, the Restitution of the Royal Family, and 
the Eighth of March, as well as the Office for Thanks- 
giving Day in our Prayer Book, already referred to, 
are further examples of the same thing. 

Such a Proper of the Time could easily be made to 

* Lit. Ed. VI. p. 203, Parker Edit. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 361 

provide fully for the half-year of Festivals and Fasts. 
And to mark the difference between Sunday and 
Festal, and the ordinary Week-day Offices, during the 
half-year .from Trinity to Advent, a very simple and 
correct rule would be, &o far as the Morning Prayer is 
concerned, to provide another Responsary Anthem to 
the first Lesson for Week-days, leaving the Te Deum 
to Sundays and Festivals. And it occurs to me to 
suggest for this purpose, what stands next to the Te 
Deum in the old Offices, the Responsary to the viii. 
Lesson in the Sunday Matins, from Trinity to Advent; 
the Te Deum being the Responsary to the ix. Lesson 
during this season. It is as follows, and contains, as 
will be seen, the germ of the Te Deum : — 

Response VIII. The two Seraphims cried one to the 
other, Holy, holy, holy, Lord Grod of hosts; all the 
earth is full of His glory. 

There are Three that bear record in heaven, the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these 
Three are One. 

Holy, holy, holy, Lord Grod of Hosts, all the earth is 
fall of His Grlory. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
Holy Ghost. 

All the earth is fall of His Grlory. 

The same substantially could be had if desired in 
another form, as follows : — 

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. 

The whole earth is full of His Glory. — Isa. vi. 3. 

But as this would be too short unless sung as an 

31 



362 The Memorial Papers. 

Anthem, an alternate could be had, better for reading, 
in the amplification of the same in the Apocalypse : — 

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, 
and is, and is to come. 

Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, and 
honour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, 
and for thy pleasure they are and were created. 

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and 
glory, and blessing. 

Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto 
Him that sitteth upon the throrre, and unto the Lamb, 
for ever and ever. Amen. 

Still another mode, and a more comprehensive one, 
of providing for this case would be, to give in the 
Proper of the Time the whole group of Lauds Psalms 
and Canticles which follow in order after the First 
Lesson and its Responsary, and from which the Bene- 
dicite and Jubilate in our Morning Prayer are trans- 
ferred, as may be seen in the foregoing synopsis. 
This, by leaving it to the discretion of the Minister to 
use either a Psalm or Canticle, or the whole group, 
on the day for which it is appointed, would give every 
needed variety of Responsary Canticles to the First 
Lesson when the Te Deum was not used, and provide 
a full, grand Morning Office, especially suited for 
Festal Seasons, and compensate for the omission 
of the Litany (the 51st Psalm being one) which, by 
being restricted to Penitential Seasons, according to 
its original use, would- much better mark them, as 



J. F. Young's Communication. 363 

would the Te Deum the Sundays and Festivals. To 
save all trouble of reference, I will give this whole 
group. See Appendix, B. 

In support of this suggestion, I beg leave to quote 
a short passage from a very able and comprehensive 
work on the Ritual of the English Church.* 

" Nor can I forbear to remark, that if any revision 
of our Morning Office were undertaken, on the princi- 
ple of enriching it, with the least possible amount of 
disturbance, or increase of complexity, from the older 
forms, the Office which we have just reviewed («. e. 
Lauds) would suggest one effective method of accom- 
plishing this object. The weak points of our present 
Office, so to speak — those in which it fails to render 
with as much fulness as could be desired, the mind of 
the older forms — are, 1. The small amount, quantita- 
tively, of psalmody : and, 2. The absence of any 
expression by means of selected Psalms of Lauds or 
Prime ideas. The expression of these is thrown upon 
other features, as Canticles (or Psalms used as Canti- 
cles), Collects, Petitions, &c. Now by introducing 
immediately after the Te Deum or Benedicite, a small 
group of Lauds and Prime Psalms, exactly as is done 
in the private office before us [the Primer of 1568], 
this defect would be in a measure remedied. Two 
unvarying Lauds Psalms, as e. g. the 63d and 148th, 
both of universal use in East and West, might suffice ; 
with one of the Prime Psalms (118th, on the resurrec- 

* Freeman's Principles of Divine Service. Masters, Lond. 



364 The Memorial Papers. 

tion) for Sundays, and one (the practical 101st, or 
part of 119th) for week days. A single and fixed 
Antiphon, as here, or varying only for the Sunday or 
other Festival, might be added. This group of Psalms 
then, following the Te Deum or Benedicite (itself a 
Lauds feature), would precede the Second Lesson; 
and thus the ancient alternation of Psalmody and 
Lessons be in a very simple manner restored."* 

May I be allowed, in this connexion, to remark 
upon what would be the general features of the Proper 
of the Time, if respect should be had in providing it 
to ancient precedent ? In general terms it would be 
of course, as already hinted, the development into a 
predominant influence of the penitential element of 
our present Offices for the Penitential Seasons, and a 
similar development of the jubilant or laudatory ele- 
ment for the Festal Seasons. This would imply the 
omission of some parts of our Offices as now used, 
sometimes, and additions to the same at other times. 
To be specific — it would require other introductory 
Sentences, or a discretion as to the use or omission of 
the Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution — a more 
penitential introduction for Lent, the Confession being 
more at length, like the Prayer of Manasses, for 
instance — the omission at times of the jubilant In- 
vitatory, Venite, exultemus, and prefacing it. as the 
beginning of the Psalmody for the Day, at other 
times with a more jubilant anthem, or else the sub- 

* P. 299. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 365 

stitution of another in its place — enlarging consider- 
ably the table of Proper Psalms, and revising a good 
deal the table of Proper Lessons — omitting for some 
seasons the Te Deum altogether, and then for other 
seasons the Litany altogether — combining with the 
Litany the Penitential Psalms, and both or either 
with the Morning or Evening Prayer — restoring to 
the Communion Office its ancient Proper Psalms, to 
mark in that Office also the ever recurring changes of 
the seasons, and to render it more complete when 
used as a separate service — providing for incorporating 
the Litany with this service, and the omission of some 
portions of it under specified circumstances — provid- 
ing anew for the musical rendering of some parts of 
this Office which have been sung, except by our 
American Church, from the beginning of their use, 
and some other lesser matters which will be indicated 
a little further on. 

And now to gather up into one connected view all 
the changes which the foregoing suggestions imply, 
and to show how closely the Proper of the Time, as 
above proposed, would adhere to our present order of 
worship, allow me on the basis of our Rubrics, as now 
existing, to indicate by additions and alterations, in 
italics, where such changes would occur, and what 
they would be. Premising, however, that the italics 
show all the changes for both Festal and Penitential 
Seasons, not more than half of which could therefore 
occur at any one time. And to save you the trouble 
of making the references to which I would invite your 
31 * 



886 The Memorial Papers. 

attention, under each particular, I will write out as 
notes such passages from the authors referred to, as 
are most essential to a fair, if not a fully exhibition 
of this important and interesting subject. 

" The minister shall begin the Morning Prayer 
by reading one or more of the following sentences of 
Scripture ;" or, at his discretion omitting all that fol- 
lows to the Lord's Prayer, may begin with Our Father, 
$c. ; provided that the Confession and Absolution be 
used at least once on the Lord's day, either in the 
Morning Prayer, or Office for the Holy Communion.* 
Sentences of Scripture. 

Then the Minister shall say, 

Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty 

God.f 

Or else, 
" Dearly beloved brethren," &c, as now. 
All following as now to the end of 
The Lord's Prayer. 

" Then likewise he shall say," except on the three 
days preceding JEaster,% 

" 0, Lord," &c, to " The Lord's Name be praised." 

* " The priest being in the choir shall begin with a loud voice 
the Lord's Prayer." — Rub. at tJie beginning of Morning Prayer, 
Prayer Book of 1549. 

f See remarks on this, above, p. 353. 

J " But in the three days preceding Easter, at all the Hours, 
nothing of the above is said, except Our Father." — Rub. at the 
end of these Yer sides, Tr. Sarum. Psalt. p. 26. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 367 

" Then shall be said or sung the following Anthem, 
except on those days for which," &c, to "nineteenth 
day of the month ;" and except on the three days next 
preceding Easter* 

" Then shall follow a portion of the Psalms," &c. 

Gloria in Excelsis. 

" Then shall be read the First Lesson according to 
the Table or Calendar." 

" After which shall be said or sung the following 
Hymn on all Sundays and Festivals, except in Lent 
and Advent, when, as likewise on all Week-days not 
Festivals, instead of Te Deum may he said or sung 
the Response appointed in the Proper of the Time ; 
or if none he appointed, one, or all of the Psalms, or 
Canticles of Praise, on the day for which the same 
may he provided, ivhich are also to he found in the 
Proper of the Time. But Te Deum is used daily 
from Easter to Ascension Day, inclusive, except on 
Monday in Mogation.'f 

* The general rule. See Kubrics of all the most important 
Rituals in loco, in which the direction is " not to say the Ve- 
nite," but to pass on from the Lord's Prayer to the Psalms for 
the Day. With our penitential introduction, which the old 
offices had not, such a usage would be very solemn, and most 
appropriately mark the three most solemn days of the year. 

f " Te Deum is said (except as after mentioned) on all Sun- 
days and Feasts of ix. Lessons, and also in certain Feasts of 
iii. Lessons following The Four Times which are without the 
week of Pentecost. * * >-* It should not be said throughout 
Advent, whatever be the service ; but let the Ninth Responsary 



368 The Memorial Papers. 

"Note. That before every Lesson/' &c, to the 
end as now. 

Te Deum Laudamus. 

Or this Canticle. 

Benedicite. 

" Then shall be read in like manner the Second 
Lesson/' &c. 

Second Lesson. 

"And after that the following Psalm/' or its substi- 
tute, ivhen provided in the Proper of the Time. 

Jubilate Deo. 
Or this Hymn. 
Benedictus. 
" Then shall be said/' &c. 

Apostle's Creed. 

be repeated (which is to be done, however, only on Sundays 
and Feasts of ix. Lessons). It should not be said, moreover, 
in Vigils, nor in The Four Times, except in the Vigil of the 
Epiphany when it happens on a Sunday, and except in The 
Four Times of the week of Pentecost, when it is said. Nor 
should it be said from the Sunday in Septuagesima, inclusive, 
to Easter Day ; nor on "Week-days, when it is the Week-day Ser- 
vice." — Rubric prefacing Te Deum, Tr. Sar. Psalt. 53. 

As appears from a phrase of the foregoing, the English Use 
substituted the Te Deum for the repetition of the Ninth Re- 
sponse, while the Roman substituted it for the Response itself. 
The Benedictine Use had twelve lessons on Sundays and great 
Festivals, with, the Te Deum as the invariable response. 






J. F. Young's Communication. 369 

Or this. 
Nicene Creed. 
"And after that," &c. 

" The Lord be with you. 
Ans. And with thy Spirit. 
Minister. Let us pray." 

Here, on Week-days not Festivals, at the discretion 
of the Minister, may be said the Petitions to be found 
in the Proper of the Time* [See Appendix A.] or, 
instead of them, the Lesser Litany. 

Or else, 

"0 Lord, show thy mercy," &c, as now. 

" Then shall follow the Collect for the day," &c, as 

now. 

A Collect for Peace. 

A Collect for Grace. 

A Prayer for the President of the United States, &c. . 

Here may follow an Anthem, \ or Hymn, or the 

* See Rubric from Sar. Psalt. in a note above, p. 342. Another 
old authority says : "In Feriis Adv. Quadr. Quatuor Temp. et Vig- 
iliarum, quae jejunantur (excepta Yigilia Nativit. Domini, et Vi- 
gilia, ac Quatuor Temporibus Pent.) post Antiphonam ad Bene- 
dicts, et in Vesperis ad Magnificat, dicuntur sequentes Preces 
flexis genibus : aliis temporibus non dicuntur." — Rubric at the 
end of Lauds. 

f " In Quires and Places where they sing, here folio weth the 
Anthem." — Rubric in the present English Prayer Book. 

It is worthy of remark that although the revisers of t e 



370 The Memorial Papers. 

Litany, or the Office for the Holy Communion, if they 
are to be used ; otherwise the Prayers following to the 
end of Morning \or Evening~\ Prayer. 

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. 

And all as now to 
" Here endeth the Order of Morning Prayer." 



THE ORDER FOR DAILY EVENING PRAYER. 

Upon this it is unnecessary to remark, as my aim 
is simply to illustrate a principle, applying to both 
Offices alike. 

English Offices in 1549 "cut off" all "Anthems," and the 
Prayer Book underwent three revisions after that, without any 
provision being made for their restoration, yet so much had the 
lack of them been felt, that at the last revision the foregoing 
Rubric was inserted after the Collect for Grace in the Morning 
Prayer, and the Collect for Aid against Perils in the Evening 
Prayer. The effect would hardly be good, I think, to rise here 
in the midst of Prayers for the purpose of singing an Anthem : 
the transition would be altogether too abrupt. What is con- 
templated is, that when the transition to the Litany is not here 
made as now, that is, if the Litany be not said, and the Holy 
Communion is to be celebrated, the Morning Prayer may end 
here, and an Anthem, or Introit Psalm for the Day, or Psalm in 
metre as now, may be sung before the Ante-Communion begins ; 
the Prayer for the Clergy and People, and that for all Conditions 
of Men, being more than compensated for in the Prayer for the 
Whole State of Christ's Church Militant, and the General Thanks- 
giving in the Eucharistic Office. The idea is, simply to cut off 
redundancy, and shorten the service, when the Holy Commu- 
nion follows the Morning Prayer, with or without the Litany. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 371 

THE LITANY, OR GENERAL SUPPLICATION. 
To be used in connexion with Morning or Evening 
Prayer, or the Office for the Holy Communion, or as a 
separate Office, with or without Psalms, Lessons, An- 
thems, or Hymns, and other Prayers, as the Minister 
in his discretion may think fit. Provided, that it shall 
be used daily on the week-days of Lent, on all Wednes- 
days and Fridays of the year, except Christmas Pay, 
on Ember and Rogation Days, and on all other solemn 
days of Fasting and Humiliation* 

" God, the Father of Heaven/' &c. 
And all as now to the end of the Prayer, 
"We humbly beseech Thee, Father," &c. 

Here may follow any Special Prayers or Thanks- 
givings,^ or, when the Communion Service is to follow, 

* See Rubric from the Sarum Psalter, above given in a note, 
p. 343, touching the original design and use of the Litany. And 
besides, the following from the long Rubric preceding the Peni- 
tential Psalms : 

" The Penitential Psalms, with the Antiphon " Remember not, 
Lord, our offences/' &c. [as in our Litany], followed by Peti- 
tions, Collects, and the Litany (as in the first Monday in Quad- 
ragesima), were among the Offices of Monday in Rogations, at 
the end of the Procession after None, and before the Office for 
the Holy Communion, when all was to be said without note." 
[i. e. not sung].-— Trans. Sar. Psalt. p. 402. 

f " At Morning Prayer, the Litany being ended, shall be 
said the following Prayers, immediately before the General 
Thanksgiving."— Rubric in our Office for Ash-Wednesday. 

In the English Litany of 1604, after the Prayer, "We hum 



372 The Memorial Papers. 

the Minister may, at his discretion, omit the Greneral 
Thanksgiving and Prayer of St. Chrysostom, ending 
with, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" £c, or 
pass on to the Collect for Purity in the Office for the 
Holy Communion. 

" Here endeth the Litany.' ' 



THE ORDER FOR THE HOLY COMMUNION. 

"If among those," &c., as now, to the end. 

" The same order," &c, as now, to the end. 

" The Table at the Communion-time," &c, as now, 

to the end. 

The Lord's Prayer. 

The Collect. 

bly beseech Thee," &c, is printed at length a Prayer for the 
King, one for the Royal Family, one for the Clergy and People, 
and then the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and " The grace," &c. 
This suggests the propriety of introducing the Prayer for the 
President, and the one following it for the Clergy and People, 
when the Litany is used as a distinct service ; or indeed, should 
it be desired, of introducing the whole group of Morning and 
Evening Prayers, from the Collect for the Day, any occasional 
Prayers or Thanksgivings which may be appropriate, or desired, 
coming in, as now, before the General Thanksgiving. 

In the old Sarum Litany there are twelve Collects following 
a Prayer somewhat similar to " We humbly beseech Thee," &c, 
being, in their order after this first, ours for the Fourth Sunday 
after Trinity, the first in our Communion Office, the one for 
Clergy and People in our Morning and Evening Prayer, and 
that for Peace in our Evening Prayer, and so on — those of the 
York and Hereford Uses differing somewhat from the Use of 
Sarum. 






J. F. Young's Communication. 373 

Then shall be said or sung the Psalm appointed 
for the Introit* according to the Table of Introits [see 

* When the Holy Communion is made a distinct service, it 
is desirable and necessary in order to its completeness, that a 
portion of the Psalter should be incorporated with it. Nor 
only this, it is a defect of our Office, though so unexceptionable 
and admirable generally, that it is without its proper Initial 
Psalm. For many centuries before the second revision of the 
English Liturgy, the proper Psalm for the Day had been as 
much a matter of course as the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel ; 
and indeed, in the First Book of Edward the Sixth, it was 
printed along with them. But for a mucli longer period this 
feature had characterized the Oriental Liturgies, as it originated 
very early in the East (how early is not known), and was last 
of all adopted by the Church of Rome. (1) In Wheatly's 
Commentary on the Common Prayer, he thus speaks of this 
matter : 

"In the first Common Prayer Book of King Edward VI. , 
before every Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, there is a Psalm 
printed, which contains something prophetical of Evangelical 
history used upon each Sunday and holy-day, or is some way 
or other proper to the day; * * • * But in the second 
edition of King Edward's book it was laid aside ; though the 
reason they had for doing so is not easily assigned. For it is 
very certain that the use of Introits to begin the Communion 
Office was not only unexceptionable, but of great antiquity in the 
Church: Durand proving that they were tali en into Divine service 
before the time of St. Jerom. And it is plain they would still 
have been very useful, since the want of them is forced to be sup- 



(l) If, as tradition asserts, the Provincial Roman Church did not commence its 
Liturgy with a hymn till the time of S. Celestine I., it would appear to have heen 
the last to adopt the custom. The Mozarabic Office was so commenced at least as 
early as the time of S. Damasus, and it would seem that the Eastern Liturgies had 
done so long before. — XcaWs Hist. East. Church, vol. i. 363. 



374 The Memorial Papeks. 

Appendix C], with the Gloria Patri. Then may 

plied by the singing of Anthems in Cathedrals, and part of a 
Psalm in metre in parish churches. And therefore I cannot but 
think it would have been much more decent for us to have been 
guided by the Church what Psalms to have used in that inter- 
mediate time, than to stand to the direction of every illiterate 
parish clerk, who too often has neither judgment to choose a 
Psalm proper to the occasion, nor skill to sing it so as to assist 
devotion." — Page 175, Oxford Ed. 

While thus approving the use of the Introit, and regretting its 
discontinuance, he complains of not knowing how to reconcile 
the two Rubrics in King Edward's Book prescribing its use, as 
one would seem to indicate that it was to be sung before the 
Collect for Purity, and the other after. He says : 

"The Introits also I have already spoke to in page 175. 
Though I do not know how to reconcile this order for singing 
it before the Minister begins the Office with another Rubric 
which stands in the same book immediately after the prayer, 
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, &c, which orders 
that the Priest then shall say a Psalm appointed for the Introit." 
—Page 226, Note. 

Every one must be equally puzzled, if he does not go beyond 
the Liturgy of Edward VI. Not knowing how to understand 
this matter, I have given some little time to its investigation, 
and beg leave to state the conclusion to which I have come. 
To make it clear, I will transcribe the introductory portion of 
the Old English Liturgy, giving by the side of it the corres- 
ponding parts of the Liturgy of Edward the VI. See Appen- 
dix D. 

From this it appears that there were two Psalms sung at 
the beginning of the Old English Liturgy, the first of which, 
" Judica me Deus," preceded and followed by its Antiphon " i/z- 
troibo," &c, was fixed and invariable, and the second, called 
the office " officium," which varied with the day, as did the 
Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, with which it was printed, as in 






J. F. Young's Communication. 375 

follow either the Gfreater or Lesser Litany, if the same 

the first Book of Edward VI. Now that the " officium" is 
referred to, and not the fixed Psalm "Judica me Deus" is mani- 
fest, in the first place from the fact that the first Rubric in Ed- 
ward's book calls it a Psalm "for the office" and in the second 
from the fact that no fixed Psalm is given in this book, but 
only the " officium" (as the English Use called it), varying 
like, and printed with, the Epistles and Gospels. But suppose 
it refers to the fixed Psalm (against which I have placed the 
Rubric in Edward's book, for the sake of illustration, though 
it properly belongs only to the second place where it stands, 
opposite to " officium"), it is sung after the Collect for Purity, 
for neither the fixed Psalm, nor the variable " officium" comes 
before this Collect. It is manifest, therefore, from comparing 
Edward's Book with the old Liturgy, of which it was a revision, 
that the proper place for the " office" or Introit Psalm, as of 
the fixed Psalm likewise if there were one, is after the Collect, 
for Purity, and not before it. We must therefore consider the 
first Rubric in Edward's Liturgy a general anticipatory direc- 
tion, definitely specified in the second, and deriving its ambi- 
guity from its not specifying the intervention of the Collect, 
which it was unnecessary then to do, it being understood as a 
matter of course from long established usage, as it manifestly 
must have been from the unequivocal directions of the old Ru- 
brics. Though this is undoubtedly the true solution of the 
difficulty, I cannot forbear remarking that it would be more 
analogous to the Eastern Liturgy to sing the Introit immedi- 
ately at the end of the Litany, when the Collect for Purity 
would serve as the " Prayer of the Antiphon." 

See Appendix E. 

Should we end the Litany, however, when the Communion is 
to follow, at the prayer " We humbly beseech Thee, Father," 
with the utmost propriety the Collect for Purity could be taken 
before rising for the Introit, for this Collect, while it occupied 



376 The Memorial Papers. 

hath not been used in the service immediately 'preced- 
ing* 

Then shall the Minister, turning to the People, re- 
hearse distinctly the Ten Commandments ; and the 

the same place in the old Saruni Liturgy that it does in ours, 
was the third one in order, of the twelve at the end of the 
Litany, in the Sarum Use, above mentioned. And moreover the 
Psalm has been generally accounted the beginning of the Lit- 
urgy, and ail that precedes this preparatory to it. (1) 

* By Lesser Litany is meant the portion of ours usually 
omitted. As to authority for the introduction of the Litany in 
this place, I would refer to the old amplification of the Kyrie 
mentioned in Appendix D., and give the following paragraph 
from Mr. Palmer : 

" At Milan, in Germany, and probably Ireland, we find an 
Anthem sung at the beginning [of the Communion Office.] This 
was followed by the form of Kyrie Eleeson, derived from the 
Eastern Church, and a long Litany, in which the Deacon 
directed the people to pray for many different objects, and the 
people responded. This form was manifestly taken from the 
ancient practice of the Eastern Church also. After the Litany 
was concluded, the hymn " Gloria in Excelsis" was sung, and 
the Collect read. At Rome the same rite prevailed, except that 
the Gloria in Excelsis was not sung when the Litany was said. 
In the patriarchate of Constantinople, the introduction to the 
Lessons, [i. e. Epistle and Gospel,] contained a Litany (which was 
probably the original of the Western Litanies just alluded to), 
three Anthems, and the celebrated hymn Trisagios" — Origines 
Liturgicce, vol. ii. p. 21. 



V) "It seems certain, that the Liturgical office, in the Eastern Church of the 
thiad century, commenced with a Psalm or Hymn. Whatever precedes this, is to 
be regarded rather in the light of a preparation to the office, than as the office itself." 
— JYcale's Hist. East. Church, vol. i. 359. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 377 

People, still kneeling, shall, after every commandment, 
ask God mercy for their transgressions for the time 
past, and grace to keep the law for the time to come. ,, 
But the Minister mat/, at his discretion, omit all that 
follows to the Collect for the Day* if a Lesson from 
the Old Testament hath been read in the service im- 
mediately preceding ; provided, that the Decalogue 
shall be rehearsed in the hearing of the people at least 
once in every months 

The Ten Commandments, 

And all as now to 

" Then shall be said the Collect of the Day. And 
after that, if it hath not been said in the service imme- 
diately preceding, the Prayer for the President of the 
United States,% and any other Collects or Prayers, if 
occasion requires.^ And immediately after, the Min- 
ister," &c, as now to the end. 

Then shall be said or sung on Sundays and Festi- 
vals, the Nicene Creed, unless it hath been used in 

* See old English Offices, and that of Ed. VI., Appendix D. 

f Analogous to the discretional use of the Gospel, &c, in our 
Baptismal Office for Infants. 

% See English Prayer Book, in which the Prayer for the So- 
vereign comes here. 

§ "Deinde dicitur oratio, sic deierminando. * * Et si aliqua 
memoria habenda est, iterum dicat sacerdos, Oremus, ut supra. 
Et quando sunt plures collectce dicendce : tunc omnes oraiioncs 
quae sequuntur sub uno Per Dominum et uno Oremus dicantur" 
— Rubric in loco, Sarum Liturgy. 
32 * 



378 The Memorial Papers. 

the service immediately preceding.* On Week-days 
not Feasts, the Creed may he omitted.f 

" Then the Minister shall declare," &c, as now. 
Then shall be sung a Hymn or Anthem. 

Then shall follow the Sermon ; which being ended, 
if the Holy Communion is to be administered, and the 

* This contemplates making the Nicene Creed always the 
Communion Creed, as it has ever been in the Church, and as the 
present times especially require. As to the phrase said or sung, 
I would simply remark, that although the Rubric of the Prayer 
Book of 1549, which prescribed it to be sung, was altered in the 
revision of 1552 to "said," and so continued on through the revi- 
sions of 1559 and 1604, yet at the last revision in 1662, it was 
changed to read thus : " And the Gospel ended, shall be sung or 
said the Creed following," &c. Though the Apostle's Creed has 
never been sung as an Anthem in the Church, the Nicene Creed 
has always been, just as much as the Te Deura ; than which it 
is scarcely less a Doxology, or more a Confession of Faith. And 
in England, during the whole period just mentioned, though 
the Rubric said "said," it was habitually sung. Scarcely an 
English service can be met with which has not the Nicene 
Creed with its proper music, the same precisely as the Te 
Deum. The reason however for this suggestion here is, to make 
the Creed compensate measurably for the loss of the Te Deum 
when Morning Prayer does not precede the Holy Communion. 

| See Rubric before quoted from the 1 Book of Ed. VI. p. 
352, above. 

Also : " Usee sunt festa quibus dicendum est Credo secundum 
usum Sarum. Omnibus dominicis diebus per totum annum, ad 
magnam missam sive de dominica agitur, sive non." * * 

" Dicetur etiam per octo dies nativitatis Domini, paschao, et 
penthecostes ; et in omni duplici festo per annum : et in omni- 
bus festis apostolorum et evangelist-arum." — From Rubric in 
loco, Sar. Lit. 






J. F. Young's Communication. 379 

people have not in the sermon been exhorted to the 
worthily receiving of the Holy Sacrament of the body 
and blood of our Saviour Christ, the Minister shall 
then say the Exhortation — "Dearly beloved in the 
Lord" £c 9 as far as to the ivord "Amen"* Then 
shall follow the Offertory, ,f if the offerings of the 

* See Rubric quoted from the 1 Book of Edward VI., p. 352, 
above, when speaking of Exhortations. 

t " ( Offertorium.) The verse so called, which was sung just 
before the oblation of the elements by the Priest. And it was 
at this time that anciently the people made their offerings. A 
custom which is even now observed upon certain occasions in 
some Churches abroad, though fallen into otherwise total dis 7 
use in the Roman Communion. * J * An old Or do Roma- 
nus cited by Bona, lib. 2, cap. ix. $ 1, thus describes the man- 
ner of offering. " Cantores cantant offertorium cum versibus, 
et populus dat oblationes sua.s, id est panem et vinum, et offer- 
unt cum Fanonibus candidis, primo masculi, deinde fceminse. 
* * * The offertorium cum versibus relates to a period when 
the custom of the people really offering was not neglected: and 
then not only verses, but even whole Psalms were added to the 
Offertory Proper ; and sometimes, for the collecting took much 
time, these were sung and repeated again and again." — Maskell, 
pp. 53, 55. 

In the Prayer Book of 1549, before the Offertory Sentences, 
stands this Rubric : 

" Then shall follow for the Offertory one or more of these 
Sentences of Holy Scripture, to be sung whiles the people do 
offer, or else one of them to be said by the Minister immediately 
afore the offering." 

And after them as follows : 

" Where there be Clerks, they shall sing one, or many of the 
sentences above written, according to the length and shortness 
of time that the people be offering." 



380 The Memorial Papers. 

people are to be collected, and after this the Prayer 
for the Whole State of Christ's Church Militant, when, 
if there be no Communion, the Minister may, at his dis- 
cretion, use any other prayers set forth by this Church, 
and let the people depart with the blessing. 

Whilst these sentences are in reading, the Deacons, 
Churchwardens, &c," as now, "and bring it to the 
Priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon 
the Holy Table."* 

"And the Priest shall then," &c, as now. 

Prayer for the Church Militant. 

Exhortation. 

Confession. 

Absolution. 

Sentences of Scripture. 

Lift up your hearts, &c. 
"It is very meet, right," &c. 

* In an old Scotch Communion Office which lies before me, 
the Rubric at this place ends thus : " Who shall present it," 
&c, " and set it upon the holy table, saying :" 

" Blessed be thou, Lord God, for ever and ever ; thine, 
Lord, is the greatness, and the glory, and the victory, and the 
majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine : 
thine is the kingdom, Lord, and thou art exalted as head 
above all : both riches and honour come of thee, and of thine 
own do we give unto thee. Amen." 

Would not some such sentence of oblation, said or sung as 
the alms are put upon the holy table, contribute very materially 
to the solemnity of this act, and impress the people with the 
sacred obligation of the sadly neglected duty of almsgiving? 



J. P. Young's Communication. 381 

"Here shall follow the Proper Preface," &c., "or 
else" the priest shall say, — 

" Therefore, with Angels," &c, " evermore praising 
Thee, and saying,"* 

* I have spaced off by paragraph the Seraphic Hymn which 
only is the chorus, or people's part, the " Therefore with Angels" 
being the conclusion of the Prefaces, and therefore the Priest's 
part. In the English Prayer Books of 1549, 1552, and 1559, 
the latter was properly paragraphed, from which the editions 
of 1604 and 1662 may be seen to differ, though in doing so, 
they differ from all the important Liturgies of Christendom, 
except that of Nestorius, as given by Brett, and even from that 
as given by Neale, as the following extracts, which are copied 
verbatim, will show : 

S. CHRYSOSTOM. 

" shouting, and saying, the triumphal hymn. 
Choir. Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. 

ARMENIAN. 

" to cry, to call, and say, 
Choir. Holy, Holy, Holy,'" &c. 

S. JAMES. 

"praising, vociferating, and saying, 
Choir. Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. 

S. BASIL. 

" shouting, and saying, the triumphal hymn, 
Choir. Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. 

S. MARK. 

" who with them laud Thee and say, 
People. Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. 

COPTIC, S. BASIL. 

" perpetually proclaiming the hymn of glory, 
People. Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. 



382 The Memorial Papers. 

People.— "H.oly, Holy, Holy," &c. 
All as now, to the end of the 

Prayer of Consecration. 
" Here may be sung a Hymn, or part of a Hymn, 
from the Selection for the Feasts and Fasts," and like- 
wise, during the administration, may be sung by the 
Choir appropriate Communion Anthems.* 

MOZARABIC. 

" Whom Angels and Archangels extol, thus saying, 
Holy, Holy, Holy/ 7 &c. 

THEODORE, THE INTERPRETER (NESTORIAN). 

" crying one to the other, saying and answering, 
Priest aloud. Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. 

* At this place in the Prayer Book of 1549, stands the follow- 
ing Rubric : 

" In the Communion time the Clerics shall sing, 

ii. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world : 
have mercy upon us. 

ii. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world : 
grant us thy peace. 
Beginning so soon as the Priest doth receive the Communion.^ 

Mr. Jebb says, " It was the primitive usage to sing a Psalm, 
the 34th, during the administration. Some resemblance to this 
custom is still preserved at Durham Cathedral, where a soft 
symphony is then played on the organ." 

Explaining (" Communionem"), Mr. Maskell says : " It was 
an Antiphon, or verse taken from a Psalm, which varied with 
the day ; and was sung whilst the people communicated. See 
Gerbert, torn. i. p. 458. S. Augustine speaks of it, in his own 
time at Carthage : " Ut hymni ad altare dicerentur de Psalmorum 
libro, sive ante oblationem, sive cum distribueretur populo 
quod fuisset oblatum." — Retract, lib. ii. cap. xi." 

It is the well known custom of most of our Non-Episcopal 



J. F. Young's Communication. 383 

" Then shall the Priest first receive/' &c, and all as 

now to 

The Lord's Prayer. 

Thanksgiving. 

u Then shall be said or sung, all standing, the Gloria 
in Excelsis," except at those times ivhen the Te Deum 
is not said in the Morning Prayer, when the Gfloria in 
Excelsis is not to he sung;* but some proper Hymn, 
or Post Communion Anthem, may be sung in its 
stead.f 

"Then the Priest (the Bishop if he be present)," 

&c. 

Benediction. 

I have not thought it necessary in this summing 
up of the preceding discussion, on the basis of the 
present Rubrics of the Prayer Book, to write them all 
out in full, but merely to indicate where the altera- 

brethren to sing verses of Hymns during the administration of 
the Communion ; and, as appears from the foregoing, it is an 
old Catholic custom, sanctioned likewise by the Reformed 
Church of England. And as the want of something of the sort 
is generally felt among us before and after we have made our 
own Communion, to engage our thoughts and assist devotion, I 
have quoted the authorities given on this point. : 

* " Gloria in excelsis dicitur quandocunque in Matutino dic- 
tus est Hymnus Te Deum praeterquam in Missa feriae quintaa in 
csena Domini, et Sabbati sancti, in quibus Gloria in Excelsis 
dicitur, quamvis in officio non sit dictum Te Deum." — Rubr. in 
loco. 

f See Communion Office of 1549, where a large number of 
very appropriate ones are given. 



384 The Memorial Papers. 

tions or additions would come, by giving a few words 
of the paragraphs preceding and following them ; so 
that with a Prayer Book in hand you can perceive at 
a glance where they would occur, and how entirely 
undisturbed they would leave its present contents. 
But it would not be necessary, were this principle 
acted upon, to disturb even the Rubrics, at present. 
In the Proper of the Time the rubrical alterations, as 
well as all others, could be given. And were such 
Proper of the Time, embracing all permitted changes, 
to be appended to the Prayer Book as a supplement, 
it being left for a time to the discretion of Ministers 
and Congregations to avail themselves of its provisions, 
or not, in a few years a use would come to be esta- 
blished, which could then easily, as it w T ould naturally, 
become the law of the Church. In this way the 
wishes of a very large portion of our Church could 
be met, without 5 inflicting the least wrong upon those 
who desire no changes for themselves, as they would 
have nothing to which they are at present averse, 
forced upon them ; but could then, as well as now, 
use " the Prayer Booh as it is." 

Thus much, it strikes me, by way of experiment 
merely, could be safely and peacefully done ; but more 
than this it would be very hazardous, I fear, to attempt 
at present. We are too little informed in Ritual 
matters, most of us, both of the Clergy and Laity, to 
undertake anything that should be binding on our 
wide-spread Communion, till it shall have been tested 
hf use, and generally and voluntarily adopted. To 






J. F. Young's Communication. 385 

alter the devotional formularies of a people, in which 
they have been reared up from infancy to manhood, 
and many to old age, is a very serious business. And 
without a general and liberal knoivledge of Ritual 
principles, which are as broadly defined, and as well 
established, as are the principles of any department of 
science or art, all meddling in these matters is danger- 
ous to the last degree. And I trust that what I have 
said upon this subject, will not be considered as in 
any sense propositions or suggestions put forth to be 
acted upon, as my sole object has been to invite your 
attention to — prove, and illustrate the important fact, 
that we need not turn aside from "the old paths" to 
attain all that we can desire, but, on the contrary, 
that a closer conformity to those ritual principles 
which underlie the present Prayer Book Offices, will 
supply all the wants which somewhat of a departure 
from them has caused to be so deeply felt. And this, 
too, without disturbing or endangering, or in any 
way 7neddling with, the integrity, or order, of what we 
now have. 

Begging that you will pardon me for so long de- 
taining you, 

I remain, Right Reverend and Dear Sir, 

Most respectfully and humbly, 

Your Servant in Christ, 
J. F. Young. 

Sept. 15th, 1856. 



33 



386 The Memorial Papers. 



APPENDIX A. 

Lord, have mercy upon us. 

Christ, liave mercy upon us. 
Lord, have mercy upon us. 
Oar Father, &c. 

Min. I said, Lord, be merciful unto me. 

Ans. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. 
Min. Turn thee again, Lord, at the last. 

Ans. And be gracious unto thy servants. 
Min. Let thy merciful kindness, Lord, be upon us. 

Ans. Like as we do put our trust in Thee. 
Min. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness. 

Ans. And let thy saints sing with joyfulness. 
Min. Lord, save the king. 

Ans. And mercifully hear us, when we call upon Thee. 
Min. 0, save Thy people, and give Thy blessing unto Thine 

Ans. Feed them, and set them up for ever, [inheritance. 
Min. 0, think upon Thy congregation. 

Ans. Whom Thou hast purchased and redeemed of old. 
Min. Peace be within Thy walls. 

Ans. And plenteousness within Thy palaces. 
Min. Let us pray for our absent brethren. 

Ans. My God, save Thy servants, who put their trust in 

[Min. For our benefactors. [Thee. 

Ans. God, make all good to abound towards them ; and 

may the increase of their fruits be the increase of their joy.] 

Min. For the afflicted and for captives. 

Ans. Deliver them, God of Israel, out of all their 
Min. Send Thou help from the sanctuary. [troubles. 

Ans. And strengthen them out of Zion. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 387 

Mln. Lord, hear my prayer. 

Aris. And let my cry come unto Thee. 

At Lauds.— Psalm 130. Out of the deep, &c. Glory, &c. 
At Vespers. — Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, God, &c. 
Glory, &c. 

And then 

Min. Turn us again, Lord God of hosts. 

Ans. Show the light of Thy countenance, and we shall be 
Min. Arise, Lord ! help us. [whole. 

Ans. And deliver us, for Thy name's sake. 
Min. Lord, hear my prayer. 

Ans. And let my cry come unto Thee. 
Min. The Lord be with you. 
Ans. And with thy spirit. 
Min. Let us pray. 

Then follows the Collect for the Day, &c, as with us. 

Answering exactly to this, and coming at the corresponding 
place in the Greek Offices, is the Great Ectene, as follows : — 

Beacon. Let us accomplish our supplications to the Lord. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Assist, preserve, pity, and protect us, God, by Thy Grace. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. That the whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful, 
without sin, let us ask from the Lord. 

Choir. Grant, Lord. And so at the end of every petition. 

[ Or, That we may pass this whole evening in perfection and 
holiness.] 

Beacon. The Angel of peace, faithful guide, guardian of our 
souls and bodies, let us, &c. 

Pardon and remission of our sins and transgressions, let us, &c. 

Things that are good and profitable for our souls, and peace 
to the world, let us, &c. 



388 The Memorial Papers. 

That we may accomplish the remainder of our lives in peace 
and penitence, let us, &c. 

Christian ends of our lives, without torment, without shame, 
peaceful, and a good defence at the fearful tribunal, let us ask 
from Christ. 

Priest. Exclamation. For thou art the good God, and the 
lover of men, and to Thee is due praise, to Thee is due honour, 
to Thee is due glory — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — now and 
ever, and to ages of ages. 

Choir. Amen. 

Priest. Peace to all. 

Choir. And with thy spirit. 

Deacon. Let us bow our heads to the Lord. 

Choir. To Thee, Lord. 

The Priest saith the Prayer of bowing down the head. 

This is similar to our Collect for Peace, at Morning Prayer, 
and our Collect for Aid against Perils, at Evening Prayer. 



APPENDIX B. 
LAUDS 

OR 

PSALMS AND CANTICLES OF PKAISE. 

To be used, one or more, on the days for which they are ap- 
pointed, after the First Lesson at Morning Prayer, when the 
Hymn Te Deuni is not said ; or, the whole group for the day 
after Te Deum, at the discretion of the Minister. 

[Min. The Lord is high above all nations. 
Ans. And his glory above the Heavens. 



J. F. Youncx's Communication. 389 

Min. God, make speed to save us. 

Ans. Lord, make haste to help us. 

Min. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
Ghost. 

Ans. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, 
world without end. Amen. 

Min. Praise ye the Lord. 

Ans. The Lord's name be praised.] 

ON SUNDAYS. 
[Part L] 
Psalm XCIII. 
The Lord is King, and hath put on glorious apparel ; the 
Lord hath put on his apparel, and girded himself with strength. 
He hath made the round world so sure, that it cannot be 
moved. 

Ever since the world began, hath thy seat been prepared : 
thou art from everlasting. 

The floods are risen, Lord, the floods have lift up their 
voice ; the floods lift up their waves. 

The waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly ; but yet 
the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is mightier. 

Thy testimonies, Lord, are very sure : holiness becometh 
thine house for ever. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world 
without end. Amen. 

Psalm LXIII. 

God, thou art my God ; early will I seek thee. 

My soul thirsteth for thee ; my flesh also longeth after thee, 
in a barren and dry land where no water is. 

Thus have I looked for thee in holiness, that I might behold 
thy power and glory. 

For thy loving kindness is better than the life itself: my lips 
shall praise thee. 



390 The Memorial Papeks. 

As long as I live will I magnify thee in this manner, and lift 
up my hands in thy Name. 

My soul shall be satisfied, even as it were with marrow and 
fatness, when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips. 

Have I not remembered thee in my bed, and thought upon 
thee when I was waking ? 

Because thou hast been my helper ; therefore under the 
shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. 

My soul hangeth upon thee ; thy right hand hath upholden me. 

These also that seek the hurt of my soul, they shall go under 
the earth. 

Let them fall upon the edge of the sword, that they may be a 
portion for foxes. 

But the King shall rejoice in God ; all they also that swear 
by him shall be commended ; for the mouth of them that speak 
lies shall be stopped. 

Psalm LXYII. 

God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and show us the light 
of his countenance, and be merciful unto us ; 

That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health 
among all nations. 

Let the people praise thee, God ; yea, let all the people 
praise thee. 

let the nations rejoice and be glad ; for thou shalt judge 
the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. 

Let the people praise thee, God ; yea, let all the people 
praise thee. 

Then shall the earth bring forth her increase ; and God, even 
our own God, shall give us his blessing. 

God shall bless us ; and all the ends of the world shall fear 
him. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

" Instead of Psalms XCIII. and C, from Septuagesima to 
Easter, are said Ps. LL, Have mercy upon me, and Ps. CXVHL, 
give thanks. " Sarnm Psalt.p. 58. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 391 

[Part IL] 
Song of the three Children. 

all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, 
and magnify him for ever. 

ye Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Heavens, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and magnify 
him for ever. 

ye Waters that be above the firmament, bless ye the Lord ; 
praise him, and magnify him for ever. 

all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, 
and magnify him for ever. 

ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and mag- 
nify him for ever. 

ye Stars of Heaven, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Winds of God, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and mag- 
nify him for ever. 

ye Fire and Heat, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and mag- 
nify him for ever. 

ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and mag- 
nify him for ever. 

ye Nights and Days, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, 
and magnify him for ever. 



392 The Memorial Papers. 

let the Earth bless the Lord ; yea, let it praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

all ye Green Things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord ; 
praise him, and magnify him for ever. 

ye Wells, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and magnify him 
for ever. 

ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Whales, and all that move in the waters, bless ye the 
Lord ; praise him, and magnify him for ever. 

all ye Fowls of the Air, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

let Israel bless the Lord ; praise him, and magnify him for 
ever. • 

ye Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord ; praise him, and 
magnify him for ever. 

ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous, bless ye the Lord ; 
praise him, and magnify him for ever. 

ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless ye the Lord; praise 
him, and magnify him for ever. 

[" Let this Psalm be said ivithout Gloria Patri, throughout the 
whole year whenever it is said." Sarum Psalt. p. 60.] 

[Part III] 
Psalm CXLVIII. 
praise the Lord of Heaven : praise him in the height. 
Praise him, all ye angels of his : praise him, all his hosts. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 393 

Praise him, sun and moon : praise him, all ye stars and light. 

Praise him, all ye heavens, and ye waters that are above the 
heavens. 

Let them praise the Name of the Lord : for he spake the word, 
and they were made ; he commanded, and they were created. 

He hath made them fast for ever and ever : he hath given 
them a law which shall not be broken. 

Praise the Lord upon earth, ye dragons, and all deeps : 

Fire and hail, snow and vapours, wind and storm, fulfilling 
his word : 

Mountains and all hills ; fruitful trees and all cedars : 

Beasts and all cattle ; worms and feathered fowls : 

Kings of the earth and all people ; princes and all judges of 
the world : 

Young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the 
Name of the Lord : for his Name only is excellent, and his 
praise above heaven and earth. 

He shall exalt the horn of his people : all his saints shall 
praise him ; even the children of Israel, even the people that 
serve th him. 

Psalm CXLIX. 

sing unto the Lord a new song ; let the congregation of 
saints praise him. 

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him, and let the children 
of Sion be joyful in their King. 

Let them praise his Name in the dance : let them sing praises 
unto him with tabret and harp. 

For the Lord hath pleasure in his people, and helpeth the 
meek-hearted. 

Let the saints be joyful with glory ; let them rejoice in their 
beds. 

Let the praises of God be in their mouth ; and a two-edged 
sword in their hands ; 

To be avenged of the heathen, and to rebuke the people ; 

To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with links of 
iron. 



394: The Memorial Papers. 

That they may be avenged of them ; as it is written, Such 
honour have all his saints. 

Psalm CL. 
praise God iur his holiness : praise him in the firmament 
of his power. 

Praise him in his noble acts : praise him according to his 
excellent greatness. 

Praise him in the sound of the trumpet : praise him upon the 
lute and harp. 

Praise him in the cymbals and dances : praise him upon the 
strings and pipe. 

Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals : praise him upon 
the loud cymbals. 

Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. 
Glory be to the Father, &c. 
As it was, &c. 

ON MONDAYS. 

[Part L] 

Psalm LI. 

Have mercy upon me, God, after thy great goodness ; ac- 
cording to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences. 

Wash me throughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me 
from my sin. 

For I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. 

Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy 
sight; that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and clear 
when thou art judged. 

Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my 
mother conceived me. 

But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts, and shalt 
make me to understand wisdom secretly. 

Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; thou 
shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness, that the bone3 
which thou hast broken may rejoice. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 895 

Turn thy face from my sins, and put out all my misdeeds. 

Make me a clean heart, God, and renew a right spirit with- 
in me. 

Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy 
Spirit from me. 

give me the comfort of thy help again, and stablish me with 
thy free Spirit. 

Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked, and sinners 
shall be converted unto thee. 

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, God, thou that art the 
God of my health ; and my tongue shall sing of thy righteous- 
ness. 

Thou shalt open my lips, Lord, and my mouth shall show 
thy praise. 

For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee ; but 
thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. 

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit : a broken and contrite 
heart, God, shalt thou not despise. 

be favourable and gracious unto Sion ; build thou the walls 
of Jerusalem. 

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, 
with the burnt-offerings and oblations ; then shall they offer 
young bullocks upon thine altar. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

Psalm LXIII. 

God, thou art my God, &c. 

{As on Sundays, p. 389.) 

[Part IL] 

Song of Moses. 

1 will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; 
the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 

The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my 



390 The Memorial Papers. 

salvation : he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation ; 
my father's God, and I will exalt him. 

The Lord is a man of war : the Lord is his name. 

Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his 
chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. 

The depths have covered them : they sank into the bottom as 
a stone. 

Thy right hand, Lord, is become glorious in power : thy 
right hand, Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown 
them that rose up against thee : thou sentest forth thy wrath, 
which consumed them as stubble. 

And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered 
together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths 
were congealed in the heart of the sea. 

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide 
the spoil : my lust shall be satisfied upon them : I will draw my 
sword, mine hand shall destroy them. 

Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them : they 
sank as lead in the mighty waters. 

Who is like unto thee, Lord, among the gods? who is like 
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 

Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed 
them. 

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast 
redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy 
habitation. 

The people shall hear, and be afraid : sorrow shall take hold 
on the inhabitants of Palestina. 

Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed ; the mighty men 
of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inha- 
bitants of Canaan shall melt away. 

Fear and dread shall fall upon them ; by the greatness of 
thine arm they shall be as still as a stone ; till thy people pass 
over, Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast pur- 
chased. 



J. F. Young's Communication, 397 

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain 
of thine inheritance, in the place, Lord, which thou hast 
made for thee to dwell in ; in the sanctuary, Lord, which thy 
hands have established. 

The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

[Part III.] 
Psalms CXLVIIL, CXLIX., CL. 

(As on Sundays, p. 392.) 

ON TUESDAYS. 

[Part I.] 

Psalms LI., LXIII. 

(As on Mondays, p. 394.) 

[Part II] 
Song of Hezekiah. 

I said, in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates 
of the grave : I am deprived of the residue of my years. 

I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of 
the living : I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of 
the world. 

Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's 
tent : I have cut off like a weaver my life : he will cut me off 
with pining sickness : from day even to night wilt thou make an 
end of me. 

I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all 
my bones : from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter : I did mourn as 
a dove : mine eyes fail with looking upward : Lord, I am op- 
pressed ; undertake for me. 

What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself 
34 



398 The Memorial Papers. 

hath done it : I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of 
my soul. 

Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is 
the life of my spirit : so wilt thou recover me, and make me to 
live. 

Behold, for peace I had great bitterness : but thou hast in love 
to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption : for thou hast 
cast all my sins behind thy back. 

For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee : 
they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 

The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day : 
the father to the children shall make known thy truth. 

The Lord was ready to save me : therefore we will sing my 
songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the 
house of the Lord. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

[Part III] 
Psalms CXLVIIL— CL. 
(As on Sundays, p. 392.) 

ON WEDNESDAYS. 

[Part L] 

Psalms LI., LXIII. 
(As on Mondays, p. 394.) 

[Part IL] 
Song of Hannah. 
My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the 
Lord ; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies ; because I 
rejoice in thy salvation. 

There is none holy as the Lord : for there is none beside thee : 
neither is there any rock like our God. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 399 

Talk no more so exceeding proudly ; let not arrogancy come 
out of your mouth : for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and 
by him actions are weighed. 

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that 
stumbled are girded with strength. 

They that icere full have hired out themselves for bread ; and 
they that were hungry ceased : so that the barren hath borne 
seven ; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 

The Lord killeth, and maketh alive ; he bringeth down to the 
grave, and bringeth up. 

The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich : he bringeth low, 
and lifteth up. 

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the 
beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to 
make them inherit the throne of glory : for the pillars of the 
earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. 

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be 
silent in darkness ; for by strength shall no man prevail. 

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces ; out 
of heaven shall he thunder upon them : the Lord shall judge 
the ends of the earth ; and he shall give strength unto his king, 
and exalt the horn of his anointed. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

[Part 111] 
Psalms CXLVIII.-CL. 
(As on Sundays, p. 392.) 

ON THURSDAYS. 

[Part I] 

Psalms LL, LXIII. 

(As on Mondays, p. 394.) 



400 The Memorial Papers. 

[Part IL] 
Song of Isaiah. 

Lord, I will praise thee : though thou wast angry with me, 
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 

Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust, and not be afraid ; 
for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song ; he also 
is become my salvation. 

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of 
salvation. 

And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his 
name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that 
his name is exalted. 

Sing unto the Lord ; for he hath done excellent things : this 
is known in all the earth. 

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion : for great is the 
Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

[Part III] 

Psalms CXLYIIL— CL. 

(As on Sundays, p. 392.) 

ON FRIDAYS. 

[Part L] 

Psalm LI., LXIII. 

(As on Mondays , p. 394.) 

[Part IL] 
Song of IIabakkuk. 
Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid : Lord, 
revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the 
years make known ; in wrath remember mercy. 

God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount 



J. F. Young's Communication. 401 

Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full 
of his praise. 

And his brightness was as the light ; he had horns coming 
out of his hand : and there was the hiding of his power. 

Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth 
at his feet. 

He stood, and measured the earth : he beheld, and drove 
asunder the nations ; and the everlasting mountains were scat- 
tered, the perpetual hills did bow : his ways are everlasting. 

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction : and the curtains of 
the land of Midian did tremble. 

Was the Lord displeased against the rivers ? ivas thine anger 
against the rivers ? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou 
didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation ? 

Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the 
tribes, even thy word. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. 

The mountains saw thee, and they trembled ; the overflowing 
of the water passed by : the deep uttered his voice, and lifted 
up his hands on high. 

The sun and moon stood still in their habitation ; at the light 
of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering 
spear. 

Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst 
thresh the heathen in anger. 

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for 
salvation with thine anointed ; thou woundedst the head out 
of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto 
the neck. 

Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his 
villages : they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me : their 
rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. 

Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through 
the heap of great waters. 

When I heard, my belly trembled ; my lips quivered at the 
voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in 
34* 



402 The Memorial Papers. 

myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble : when he 
cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. 

Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be 
in the vines ; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields 
shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
there shall be no herd in the stalls : 

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my 
salvation. 

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like 
hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

[Part 1IL] 
Psalms CXLVIIL— CL. 
(As on Sundays, p. 392.) 

ON SATURDAYS. 

[Part L] 

Psalms LI., LXIII. 

(As on Mondays, p. 394.) 

[Part IL] 
Song of Jonah. 

I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he 
heard me ; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest 
my voice. 

For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas ; 
and the floods compassed me about : all thy billows and thy 
waves passed over me. 

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight ; yet I will look again 
toward thy holy temple. 

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul : the depth 
closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my 
head. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 403 

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with 
her bars was about me for ever : yet hast thou brought up my 
life from corruption, Lord my God. 

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord : 
and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 

They that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. 

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving ; 
I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was, &c. 

[Part III] 

Psalms CXLVIIL— CL. 

{As on Sundays, p. 392.) 

This brings us to the Short Lesson, of which our Second 
Lesson takes the place. I have left out the variable Psalm of 
each day, which is, on Sunday, C, Mond. V., Tues. XLIIL, 
Wed. LXV., Thurs. XC, Frid. CXLIII,, Sat. XCIL, and comes 
uniformly second in order ; that is, after the XCIII. on Sunday 
aud the LI. on Week-days. I have given the opening Versicles 
in brackets, as without the design suggested, and for con- 
venience of reference, have inserted in italics and brackets the 
divisions into parts, — Part L, Part II., &c. 

Now suppose that in Lent, say, when the Te Deum is not sung, 
a single Psalm is to be taken in its place after the First Lesson. 
The very first in the series, both on Sundays and Week-days, 
during this Season, is the Fifty-first Psalm, the great Lauds 
Confession in the East and West alike.* The Psalm, more- 
over, which has been habitually used in the Church of Eng- 
land in the place of the Te Deum in Penitential Seasons. In 
the "Primer in English/'— the second of Henry VIII. (1539) 

* " This prolonged psalmody [Nocturnal or Matutinal] concluded, the jifty-first 
Psalm follows, as in St. Basil's time, with only a brief hymn intervening; and 
then succeeds that hurst of Canticles, " and Lauds Psalms," properly so called (viz. 
the 148th— 150th), which marks the opening of the day, and sends up from all 
created being the incense both of the Old and of the New Creation."— Freeman's 
Principles of Divine Service, p. 111. 



404 The Memorial Papers. 

it is prescribed at the end of Te Deum, that "Between Septua- 
gesima and Easter this Psalm following is to be said in the stead 
of Te Deum" " The li. Psalm." , " Have mercy upon me, &c." 
And the same thing is repeatedly prescribed in Occasional 
Services, set forth in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. See, for 
instance, on pp. 520, 528, 541, and others, (Parker Edition), 
the following Eubric : 

" Then, for the first lesson, shall be read one of the chapters 
hereafter following, or so much thereof as is appointed. 

Exod. xiii., Exod. xv., &c, &c, &c. 

After that, instead of Te Deum laudamus, that is to say, We 
praise Thee, God, shall be said the li. Psalm : Have mercy 
upon me, God, &c." 

Or, suppose the series of Canticles be taken. This gives us, 
on Sundays, the Benedicite, the same as it now stands in our 
Prayer Book — is generally used during Lent, and was prescribed 
to be used during this season in the First Book of Edward the 
VI.* Then comes its corresponding Canticle for each day of 
the week — for all Week-days in the year not Festivals — unless 
the. 51st Psalm should be preferred, which is no less avail- 
able. And on Festivals, when the Litany is, according to the 
old rule, not to be said, the whole series for the day, beginning 
with the versicles immediately after the Te Deum, would be a 
most appropriate and edifying act of praise. No better canticle 
scheme could be devised, I believe, for the Days and Seasons 
when the Te Deum is not used, as it falls in so perfectly with 
our present usage, so far as this goes, and is sanctioned by the 
former use of our Mother Church of England. 

I append, however, a scheme of Canticles alone, which is sug- 
gestive in respect of this particular feature of a Proper of the 
Time. It could, undoubtedly, be a good deal improved ; but I 

* After the first Lesson shall follow Te Deum laudamus, in English, daily through- 
out Vie year, except in Lent, all the which time, in the place o/Te Deum, shall be used 
Beuedicite omnia opera Domini, in English, as followeth.— [Rubric before Te Deum, 
1 Lit. Ex. VI., p. 30, Park. Ed,] 



J. F. Young's Communication. 405 

give it exactly as I find it in the III. Volume of the Parish 
Choir, p. 15 ; premising that it is from an old Psalter, of the 
date of 1532, and designed for Ferial Days, i. e., Week-days and 
Sundays when Te Deum is not said. 

Canticles on Ferials. 
Sunday. 

(1.) Isaiah 33, v. 2-11, "0 Lord, . . . . lift up thyself." 

(2.) " 33, v. 13-18, " Hear Ye, . . meditate terror." 

(3.) Ecclus.36,v. 12-18, "OLord, eternal God." 

Monday. 

Isaiah 12, v. 1 to end, " Lord, I . . . &c." 
Tuesday. (Hezekiah's Song.) 

Isaiah 38, v. 10-21, " I said . . . house of the Lord." 
Wednesday. (Hannah's Song.) 

1 Samuel 2, v. 1-11, "My heart . . . anointed." 
Thursday. (Song of Moses.) 

Exodus 15, v. 1-20, "I will sing . . . sea." 
Friday. (Song of Habakkuk.) 

liabakkuk 3, v. 2-19, "0 Lord, . . . high places." 
Saturday. (Song of Moses.) 

(1st part.) Deut. 32, v. 1-22, "Give ear . . foolish nation." 

(2d part.) " " y. 22-43, "For a fire . . . his people." 

Sundays in Adyent. 

Isaiah 40, y. 10-18, " Behold, vanity," Glory, &c. 

" 42, v. 10-16, " Sing . . crooked things straight." Glory. 
" 49, v. 7-14, " Thus saith his afilicted." Glory. 

Feasts of Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, and Sundays 

between their octayes. 
Isaiah 9, v. 2 — 8, " The people .... perform this." Glory. 

" 26, y. 1-13, " We have works in us." Glory. 

" 66, y. 10-17, "Rejoice shall be many." Glory. 



406 The Memorial Papers. 

Sundays in Lent. 

Jeremiah 14, v. 17-22, " Let mine eyes with us." 

Lamentations 5, v. 1-22, "Remember as of old." 

Ezekiel 36, v. 24-29, "For I will . . your God." Glory. 

From Easter to Trinity. 

Isaiah 63, v. 1- 6, " Who is this . . it upheld me." Glory. 

Hosea 6, v. 1- 7, " Come .... burnt offerings." Glory. 

Zephaniah 3, v. 8-14, " Wait ye afraid." Glory. 

Feasts of Saints, Apostles, and Evangelists. 

Isaiah 61, v. 6-10, " Ye shall blessed." 

Wisdom 3, v. 7-10, " And [the righteous] in .... his elect." 
" 10, v. 17 to end, [God] "rendered to . . . . eloquent." 

On Festivals of One Martyr, Confessor, &c. 

Ecclus. 14, v. 20, 1 "Blessed is everlasting name/ 

and 15, v. 3-7, j Glory, &c. 

Jeremiah 17, v. 7-9, " Blessed is . . . fruit." Glory. 
Ecclus. 31 v. 8-12, " Blessed is . . . alms." Glory. 

On Festival of Many Martyrs. 

Wisdom 3, v. 1-7, "But the burnt offering." Glory. 

" 10, v. 17 to end, fOod] " rendered to . eloquent." Glory. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 407 



APPENDIX C. 

Table of Introits for the Sundays and Holy Days of the 

Year. 



As set forth, and printed along with the Collects, Epistles, and 
Gospels, in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Eng- 
land, A. D. 1549. 



1st Sunday in Advent 








Psalm 1 


2d u " 








120 


3d 








4 


4th " " 








5 


Christmas Day, 1st Conimunio 


Q 






98 


" « 2d " 








8 


F. of S. Stephen . 








52 


" S. John, Evan. 








11 


" the Holy Innocents 








79 


Sunday after Christmas . 








121 


Circumcision . 








122 


Epiphany . 








96 


1st Sunday after the Epiphany 








13 


2d 








14 


3d 








15 


4th 








2 


5th 








20 


6th 








20 


Septuagesima . 








23 


Sexagesima 








24 


Quinquagesima 








26 


Ash-Wednesday 








6 


1st Sunday in Lent . 








32 



408 



The Memorial Papers. 



2d Sunday in Lent . 




Psalm 


130 


3d " 




u 


43 


4th " " .... 




a 


46 


5th " " 




it 


54 


Sunday next before Easter 




it 


61 


Good-Friday 




it 


22 


Easter-Even 




a 


88 


Easter-Day, 1st Communion . 




a 


16 


2d . 




a 


3 


Monday in Easter Week . 




tt 


62 


Tuesday " . „ 




a 


113 


1st Sunday after Easter . 




a 


112 


2d " " ... 




it 


70 


3d " ... 




tt 


75 


4th « " ... 




tt 


82 


5th " " ... 




tt 


84 


Ascension Day 




tt 


47 


Sunday after Ascension Day -. 




a 


93 


Whit-Sunday 




a 


33 


Monday in Whitsun-week 




a 


100 


Tuesday " . 




a 


101 


Trinity Sunday .... 




a 


67 


1st Sunday after Trinity . . Psalm 1] 


9 Beati immaculati. 


2d " " " 


In quo corriget 


f 


3d " " 


Retribue servo i 


f uo. 


4th " " 


Adlicesitpavimento. 


5th " " . . 


Legem pone. 




6th " . . " 


Et veniat. 




7th 


Memor esto. 




8th " " . . 


Portio mea. 




9th " " . . 


Bonitatem fecisti. 


10th " " 


Manns tuoz. 




11th " " . . 


Defecit anima. 




12th " 


In ceternum. 




13th " " 


Quomodo dilexi. 


14th " " 


Lu 


cema pedibus. 



J. F. Young's Communication. 409 



15th Sunday after Trinity . Psalm 119 In 


'quos odio. 




16th 


Feci judicium. 




17th " 


" Mirabilia. 




18th " 


" Justus es. 




19th 


" Clamavi in toto. 


20th " " 


" Vide liumilitatem. 


21st 


" Principes persecuti. 


22d " " 


" Appropinquet. 




23d 


Psalm 


124 


24th " 




n 


125 


25th 




cc 


127 


S. Andrew 




it 


129 


S. Thomas, A. 




ii 


128 


Conversion of S. Paul 




a 


138 


Purification of S. Mary, \ 


r 


a 


134 


S. Matthias 




it 


140 


Annunciation of the Virgi 


n Mary . 


tt 


131 


S.Mark . 




n 


141 


SS. Philip and James 




a 


133 


S. Barnabas, A. 




n 


142 


S. John Baptist 




n 


143 


S. Peter . 




a 


144 


S. James, A. . 




ti 


148 


S. Bartholomew, A. 




a 


115 


S. Matthew, A. 




n 


117 


S. Michael and all Angels 


J 


a 


113 


S. Luke, E. . 




it 


137 


SS. Simon and Jude, AA 




tt 


150 


All Saints 




a 


149 



35 



410 



The Memorial Papees. 



APPENDIX D. 



SARUM USE. 



Ad missam dicendam 
dum sacerdos induit se 
sacris vestibus dicat hym- 
num: 



BANGOR USE. 



Ad missam dicendam 
executor officii cum suis 
ministris se induant. Dum 
induit se sacerdos vestibus 
dicat hunc hymnum : 



et omnis voluntas loqui- 
secretum, etc., as in our 



Deinde seq. 
Ps. Judica. 

Gloria patri : sicut erat. 

Ant. 
Introibo. 



Veni Creator spiritus : mentes tuorum visita : 
pie superna gratia, quae tu creasti pectora, etc. 
X. Emitte spiritum tuum et creabuutur. 
R. Et renovabis faciem terras. 

Oratio : 

Deus cui omne cor patet 
tur, et quern nullum latet 
office. 

Deinde sequatur Antiph. 

Introibo ad altare. 

Ps. (xliii.) Judica me 
Deus, et discerne. 

Tvtus psalmus dicatur 
cum Gloria patri. 

Deinde dicitur ant. 

Introibo ad altare Dei, 
ad Deum qui lsetificat ju- 
ventutem meam. 

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. 

Christe eleison. Christe eleison. 

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. 

Pater noster, etc. Pater noster. 

His finitis et, etc. * * accedat sacerdos cum suis 
ministris ad gradum altaris. et dicat ipse confessionem 
(capite inclinato. Bangor.) diacono assistente a dextris, 
et subdiacono a sinistris hoc modo incipiendo: 

Et ne nos. Sed libera. Confitemini Domino quo- 
niam bonus. Quoniam in saaculuin misericordia 
ejus. 

Confiteor Deo, etc. 

Absolutionem, etc. 

Then, after several versicles and prayers, 



I. LIT. EDWARD VI. 



Upon the day and at the 
time appointed for the mi 
nistration of the Holy Com- 
munion, the Priest * * 
shall put upon him the 
vesture appointed for that 
ministration. * * * Then 
shall the Clerks sing in 
English the Office,or Jntroit 
(as they call it), a Psalm 
appointed for that day. 

[The Lord's Prayer was 
inserted here, before the 
Collect, in 1604.] 



Almighty God, unto 
whom all hearts be open, 
&c. 

Then shall he say a 
Psalm appointed for the 
Introit : which Psalm end- 
ed, the Priest shall say, or 
else the Clerks shall s-ing, 
or, (see further on where 
this Rubric properly be- 
longs). 



J. F. Young's Communication. 411 



SARUM USE AND BANGOR USE. 



His itaque gestis in dextro cornu altaris cum diacono 
et suldiacono, Officium^) missce usque ad orationem 
prosequitur : vel usque ad Gloria in excelsis : quando 
dicitur. Et post officium et psalmum repetatur officium : 
et postea dicitur Gloria patri et sicut erat. Tertio 
repetatur officium : sequatur Kyrie. 

(York use) Deinde repetatur officium : 
Kyrie eleyson, iii. 
Christe eleyson, iii. 
Kyrie eleyson, iii. 
(Hereford) Tertio repetatur officium: dido 
officio scquitur, 
Kyrie eleyson, iii. 
Christe eleyson, iii. 
Kyrie eleyson, iii. (2) 

Gloria in excelsis Deo. 

Then follow immediately the 

Collect Epistle, and Gospel for the day. 



I. LIT. EDWARD VI. 



Then shall he say a 
Psalm appointed for the 
Introit (etc., as above). 



III. Lord, have mercy 
upon us. 

III. Christ, have mercy 
upon us. 

III. Lord, have mercy 
upon us. 



Then the Priest standing 
at God's board shall begin, 

Glory be to God on high. 

The Clerks. And in 
earth peace, &c. 

Collect, Epistle, and 
Gospel. 



CD " {Officium.) More commonly called, in later years, the Introit. 'Introitus :' 
as in the Roman use. In the Milan or Ambrosian Missal, it is called Ingressa. For 
an account of its first institution and other particulars, see Bona, torn. ii. p. 48 ; and 
Gerbert, de Musica, torn. i. p. 100. These Introits, as is well known, were retained 
in the first revised Liturgy of K. Edw. VI." — MasJceWs Early English Liturgies, 
p. 20. 

Also, "This anthem before the Lessons [i. e. Epistle and Gospel] was called In- 
troitus in the Roman Liturgy, Ingressa in the Ambrosian, or that of Milan, and 
in the English Church was formerly used under the name of Officium or Introit" 
—Palmer's Orig. Lit. vol. II. p. 20. 

(2) Upon certain Festivals these Kyrie were appointed in the English Church to 
he sung with several verses added to the original words. As, for example, upon 
the double feasts were to be sung either "Kyrie rex genitor;" or, "Kyrie fons boni- 
tatis;" or, "Kyrie omnipotens pater," with two or three others, at the choice of the 
Precentor. As, for example : 

Kyrie, rex genitor ingenite vera essentia, eleyson. 

Kyrie, luminis fons, rerumque conditor, eleyson. 

Kyrie, qui nos tuas imaginis signasti specie, eleyson. 

Christe, Dei forma humana particeps, eleyson. 

Christe, lux oriens, per quern sunt omnia, eleyson. 

Christe, quia perfecta es sapientia, eleyson. 

Kyrie, spiritus vivifice, vitas vis, eleyson. 

Kyrie, utriusque vapor, in quo cuncta, eleyson. 

Kyrie, expurgator scelerum, et largitor gratiae, quassumus propter nostras 
offensas noli nos relinquere, consolator dolentis animas, eleyson. — Mash ell's 
Ancient English Liturgies, p. 23. 



412 The Memorial Papers. 



APPENDIX E. 

The Proanaphoral Portion of the Liturgy of S. 

Chrysostom.* 

Answering to our Ante-Communion Office. 

Deacon. Sir, give the blessing. 

Priest. Blessed be the kingdom of the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of ages. 

Choir. Amen. 

Deacon. In peace let us make our supplications to the Lord. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For the peace that is from above, and for the salva- 
tion of our souls, let us make our supplications to the Lord. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For the peace of the whole world, the stability of 
the holy Churches of God, and the union of all, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For this holy house, and them that in faith, piety, 
and the fear of God enter into it, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For our Archbishop N., the venerable Presbytery, 
the Diaeonate in Christ, all the Clergy, and the laity, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For our most pious and divinely preserved Kings, all 
their palace, and their army, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. That He would fight on their side, and subdue every 
enemy and adversary under their feet, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

*Used by the whole Orthodox Eastern Church. 



J. F, Young's Communication. 413 

Deacon, For this holy abode, the whole city and country, and 
them that inhabit it in faith, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For healthfulness of air, plenty of the fruits of the 
earth, and peaceful times, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. For them that voyage, that journey, that are sick, 
that labour, that are in bonds, and their safety, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. That we may be preserved from all tribulation, pas- 
sion, danger, and necessity, let us &c. 

Choir. Lord, have mercy. 

Deacon. Assist, preserve, pity, and protect us, God, by Thy 
grace. 

Deacon. Commemorating, &c, * * * let us commend 
ourselves and each other, and all our life, to Christ, our God. 

Choir. To Thee, Lord. 

Priest, aloud. For all glory, worship, and honour, befits Thee, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of 
ages. Amen.* 

Then is sung by the choir the First Antiphon [the Initial Hymn, 
or Introii being divided into three antiphona, the First consisting 
of a seizes of verses from the Psalms, in or out of their regidar 
order, each verse being followed by a prayer, ending with " Sa- 
viour, save us"]. 

Then is said by the Priest the following 

Prayer of the First Antiphon : 
" Lord our God, of boundless might, and incomprehensible 
glory, and measureless compassion, and ineffable love to man 

* •< This form of prayer was anciently common to both the east and west. It 
was known by the name of Prcces, or Pacificce, and, till the ninth century, appears 
to have been said immediately after the Kyrie [i. e. in the Western Offices] on days 
when the Gloria in Excelsis was not sung. In the Church of Milan these prayers 
are, at the present time, retained in the Sundays of Lent, by the Roman ritual, in 
modified forms, on Good Friday, and before the Gloria in Excelsis on Easter 
Eye/'—iVgaZe's Holy Eastern Church, toI. 1, p. 360. 
35* 



414 The Memorial Papers. 

look down, Lord, according to Thy tender love, on us, and on 
this holy house, and show to us, and to them that pray with us, 
the riches of Thy mercies and compassions," 

" And after the Antiphon hath been sung, the Deacon comes and 
stands in the accustomed place, adores and says" 

" Again and again in peace let us make our supplications to 
the Lord.* 

Assist, preserve, pity, and protect us, God. 

Commemorating, &c. 

Exclamation, For Thine is the strength, and Thine is the 
kingdom, the power and the glory, Father, &c, a.s before. 

Then in like manner the choir sing the Second Antiphon. [This 
is of the same nature as the First, only tJie petitions inserted be- 
tween the verses have reference to the Festival. As for example, 
on Easter Day, " Son of God that didst rise from the dead, save 
us who sing to Thee Alleluia." It ends with the Doxology, and 
the Hymn " Only begotten Son," as follows : 

" Only begotten Son, and Word of God, immortal, Who didst 
vouchsafe for our salvation to take flesh of the holy Mother of 
God and Ever- Virgin Mary, and didst without mutation become 
man, and wast crucified, Christ our God, and by death didst 
overcome death, being one of the Holy Trinity, and glorified 
together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, save us/'f] 

Then is said by the Priest 

The Prayer of the Seco?id Antiphon. 
Lord our God, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance : 
guard the fulness of Thy Church: hallow them that love the 
beauty of Thine house. Glorify them in recompense with Thy 

* This is called the Short Ectene, which consists of the three phrases — " Again 
and again" " Assist, preserve," " Commemorating," with the Exclamation ; which 
is common likewise to the Long Ectene consisting of ten, twelve, or more verses, 
as above. 

f On Sundays, instead of the two first Antiphona, Typica are sung. The First 
Typica denotes the 103d Psalm ; the Second Typica the 146th. But from Low Sun- 
day to Trinity, Antiphona are recited instead of Typica. 



J. F. Young's Cojimunication. 415 

divine power: and forsake not them that put their trust in 
Thee. 

Deacon. Again and again in peace, &c. 

Assist, preserve, &c. 

Commemorating, &c. 

Exclamation, For Thou art the good God, and the lover of 
men, and to Thee we ascribe, &c. 

Then in like manner the choir sing the Third Antiphon, [which 
is concluded with Troparia proper for the Day, i. e. short Hymns, 
like the one just given, " Only begotten Son," though not gene- 
rally so long-]. 

Then is said by the Priest 

The Prayer of the Third Antiphon. 
" Thou, "Who hast given us grace, at this time, with one ac- 
cord to make our common supplications unto Thee : and dost 
promise that when two or three are gathered together in Thy 
Name, Thou wilt grant their requests: fulfil now, Lord, the 
desires and petitions of Thy servants, as may be most expedient 
for them : granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, 
and, in the world to come, life everlasting." 

And while the Third Antiphon is being sung by the choir, or 
if it be Sunday, the Beatitudes, when tliey come to the Doxology 
the Priest and Deacon * * * make 

The Little Entrance. 
Then the Priest saith secretly the Prayer of the Little En- 
trance — sundry Yersicles, Responses, and ceremonies follow — 
Troparia are sung, and then 

The Choir sing the Trisagion. 
" Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, havo 
mercy upon us/' five times. 

* On Sundays the place of the Third Antiphon is supplied by the Beatitude?., to 
the three last of which Troparia from the third and sixth Odes of the Canon for 
the day are subjoined. The Canon usually consists of nine Odes, and each Ode 
of— generally from three to five — Troparia. 



416 The Memorial Papers. 

Following this, in order, 

The Epistle and Gospel. 

Then is said'a "Long Ectene," somewhat different from the 
one given in the beginning of this Office, concluding with the 
Prayer for the Catechumens, followed immediately by 

The Expulsion of the Catechumens. 

I have given but a mere skeleton of this beautiful Office from 
The Little Entrance (i. e. bringing in of the Gospel), though 
tip to that in full, as my object in quoting this portion of the 
Greek Liturgy is to show the time and manner of introducing 
the Introit, or Initial Hymn in the Eastern Offices. 

It will be perceived that should we begin our Liturgy with the 
Litany and at the end of this sing the Introit — consisting either 
of a Psalm, or the Beatitudes, or an Anthem appropriate to the 
Day — the Priest at the conclusion of this, going within tbe 
rails, and reciting the Collect for Purity as the Prayer of En- 
trance, which is certainly superior as such to the Greek Prayer* 
in this place, we should conform exactly to the order of the 
Greek Service. Indeed, this is precisely what we do now from 
the Litany on, only we sing the Introit in Tate and Brady's 
versification, instead of the words indited by the Holy Ghost. 

I ought to remark that the passages in brackets, intermingled 
with the Rubrics, are additions of my own, in order to render 
their fall meaning and force apparent, without your having the 
trouble of reference. These, in substance, however, as like- 
wise the other portions of this Appendix, are derived from the 
valuable work, several times referred to in the foregoing pages, 
Neale's History of the Holy Eastern Church. 

* "Master, Lord, and our God, Who hast disposed in Heaven troops and armies 
of Angels and Archangels, for the ministry of Thy glory : grant that with otir en- 
trance there may be an entrance of holy Angels, ministering together with us, and 
with us glorifying Thy goodness. 

For to Thee is due all honour," &c. 



COMMUNICATIONS 



NON-EPISCOPAL DIVINES. 



FROM A VENERABLE DIVINE OF THE PRES. 
BYTBRIAN CHURCH (OLD SCHOOL). 

My Dear Sir : 

I have called on Mr. P., but he thinks the docu- 
ment you refer to is not circulated, though he has been 
for a fortnight expecting it. If I receive it in time, 
I shall read it with interest. I am glad the Episcopal 
Church is moving in that direction. That Church has 
a better government than any Protestant Church — 
forms that protect it against enthusiasm — and its 
danger lies on the side of formality. In England, 
after the Revolution, it lost to a great extent its 
spirituality. Some movement was required — they who 
made it were good men, I suppose, but philosophically 
they made it in the wrong direction. The Church has 

nothing to fear from enthusiasm — much from formal- 

(417) 



418 The Memorial Papers. 

ism; and beside, by giving consequence to externals 
she endangered her existing position. Rome was in 
advance of her in that direction, and her people, if 
turned in that direction, would be in danger of going 
quite to Rome. If I were a sectarian, which I am 
not, and can never be, I should rejoice to see the 
Episcopal Church set up exclusive claims and adopt 
Catholic usages. She will even now get from the 
other sects some gentlemen, but never the masses ; but 
with her Prayer-Book and forms, did she fraternize 
with and become more like other Protestants in 
charity, and in evangelical principles, she would make 
great inroads upon the common people. Our safet} r , 
as sectarians, I do not say as Christians, lies in her 
maintaining her exclusiveness and keeping us from 
intercourse and communion with her. The Episcopal 
Church can do much to conciliate and harmonize Pro- 
testant Christendom, but every movement in that 
direction will relatively tend to increase her influence 
and her numbers, and to diminish ours. This, the far- 
seeing men in the other denominations know, and fear 
much more the influence of the evangelical preachers 
in your Church than its ultra high churchmen. For 
myself, as I care much more for the Church of Christ 
than for any of its divisions, I am glad to see any 
where any indications of the revival of fraternal feel- 
ing, — first, because it is right, and secondly, because 
it is likely to improve the Christianity of the several 
sections. No Church can do so much by a course of 
conciliation, as the Episcopal Church, to benefit others, 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 419 

or to benefit itself. Nothing is wanted on her part, 
more than by a practical exhibition of the charities 
of the Gospel, to bring herself into closer fellowship 
and more familiar intercourse with the other denomi- 
nations. In that intercourse, and in the exercise of 
that feeling, the other sects hazard something — the 
Episcopal Church nothing. Her duty, and her 
growth, lie in the same direction ; and never is a 
greater mistake made in a Protestant country than 
when a minister in your communion approaches as 
near as he can in doctrine and in ceremonies to the 
Church of Rome. If you are purposing anything in 
the direction you suggest, I am glad of it; not on 
account of the advantage it will be to the Church to 
which I belong, with respect to numbers or influence 
— but on account of the better spirit it would be 
likely to awaken in all the Churches, and the increase 
of conservatism it would be likely to produce in some 
of them. 

The Latin Church is extending, and is likely 
greatly to extend in our country, and unless a better 
spirit and greater unity of action shall be brought 
about among the sections of the Protestant Church, 
no one can foresee the consequences. I shall be most 
happy should a more fraternal and catholic spirit be 
awakened among your people, and a corresponding 
course of action — and this, though I believe any 
change of that kind would increase the numbers and 
influence of your Church and diminish both in my 
own. 



420 The Memorial Papers, 



FROM THE SAME. 

My Dear Sir : — 

The Memorial enclosed has reached me. It is 
refreshing to meet with the expression of sentiments 
so true and so becoming Christians, — and though they 
meet a response in my heart, I can hardly say that I 
expect any immediate practical effect therefrom, and 
yet I should be most happy should this movement be 
the inception of measures that under Providence shall 
lead to greater union among Protestants. Though I 
believe greater union would operate in favour of 
Episcopacy, still I should not the less favour it on 
that account. I have not time to say, nor could I say 
by letter, what I would say could I see you. I sup- 
pose the ordination question a greater impediment 
than any doctrinal differences. Though I am not a 
believer in apostolical succession, and though if I 
were, I should not know where to go to find it, still 
for the sake of union with Episcopalians, I wish we 
had in their estimation a claim as good as their own ; 
that is to say, I wish we and the Baptists and the 
Methodists had received ordination through the Epis- 
copal Church, or some other channel esteemed by them 
as valid as their own. But I do not see how that 
impediment can now be removed. I wish the 
Methodist Bishops were consecrated Episcopally for 
the reason I have stated — that of union ; and that 
qualified candidates for the ministry were ordained by 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 421 

them or by Episcopal Bishops, with the expectation 
that they would settle, if opportunity offered, in other 
Churches. But w T hether this, or any other practical 
measure, will prepare the way for bringing into 
harmony the fragments of the Protestant Church, I 
know not. There is enough of the love of sect, 
enough of the love of the Episcopal Church, of the 
Methodist Church, of the Baptist Church, of the 
Presbyterian Church, but not enough of the love of 
the Church of Jesus Christ, as such, to admit of fra- 
ternal intercourse and unity of action among these 
believers in a common Christianity and worshippers 
of a. common Saviour. To me the prospects of the 
world are sad — the growth of the slavery power and 
its ultimate tendencies and designs — the mighty 
increase of Romanism, and the more mighty increase 
of it in prospect — the divisions, the selfishness, and 
want of vital piety among Protestants, are all ominous 
of evil — and I do not think it altogether absurd to 
apprehend that judgments are in store for American 
Christians, whose faith is to be purified, and whose 
love is to be rekindled by suffering. But come what 
will, we have this consolation, that God reigns, — and 
be the course of others what it. may, let us, while 
labouring to raise the standard of piety among those 
with whom, in the providence of God, we are more 
specially called to labour, do what we can to abate 
existiug prejudices in all, and rekindle in all that 
charity which is the bond of perfectness. Praying 
that God may preside over your deliberations, and 

36 



422 The Memorial Papers. 

guide the decisions of the body with which you are 
called to act, 

I am very truly yours, &c. 



FROM A CONGREGATIONAL CLERGYMAN. 

My Dear Friend : — 

I am thankful for the occasion which brings a 
friendly salutation from you. The Memorial had 
come to hand, and had been read with great interest. 
I was happy to see the evidence that some of your 
clergy had discovered this mode of employing the vast 
power of your Church, for the more efficient applica- 
tion of the Gospel to the perishing. I will give you 
my views on several points, as you request. 

I. The need for a ministry of limited literary ac- 
quirements. 

1. Millions lie outside of the range of our Churches 
and preachers. Our ministry is fully occupied with 
parish work. But millions remain outside of the 
parish, practically in heathendom. Our piety is sadly 
defective so long as it looks unmoved on those multi- 
tudes whom Satan may for ever hold, if we do not do 
something beyond " Church extension," and raising 
up a " well-educated ministry." 

2. God has given some of his servants precisely the 
qualifications for this work. They have piety, zeal, 






Non-Episcopal Divines. 423 

judgment ; only not learning, nor the time to obtain 
it. And, if they should, it would raise their qualifica- 
tions, and so their expectations. 

3. The results of our experience are strongly eon- 
firmatory of the importance of this principle. Our 
colporteurs and our city missionaries are filling a. 
sphere which the energy and zeal of Methodist itine- 
rants never occupied so well. 

II. Collateral advantages of such a ministry. 

1. It will employ much talent noio wasted. 

2. Your Church is in danger of losing the poor in 
this country ; and that is a loss no Church can afford 
to make. 

3. You will by it gratify your best people, and attach 
them so much the more strongly to your Church. 

4. The reaction on the piety of the Church will be 
most favourable. It will lead to an increased sympa- 
thy for the destitute ; to increased personal exertions 
for their benefit, and to increased prayer and thanks- 
giving to God. 

III. The difficulties of the subject. 

1. "It will degrade the ministry." That was 
strongly and sincerely urged when our colporteur 
movement commenced. But experience has removed 
all those fears. It is too late to fear the ministry of 
our Churches will go backward in scholarship. 

2. " You will encourage irregularities." The 
Episcopal control of such labourers can be much more 
rigid than ours. But we have experienced no serious 
evil resulting from our efforts in this direction. We 



424 The Memorial Papers. 

have organized a very rigid system of supervision. 
And it may be well for you to have an interview with 
Mr. Hallock, of the Tract Society, to ascertain minute- 
ly our system, or procure one of their little volumes 
of instructions to colporteurs. 

3. Your service (liturgical) appears to me not well 
adapted for this light-infantry work. It demands a 
convenient apartment, a trained people, &c. On that 
point your own good sense will guide you. Nor could 
I judge how far the enemies to the enterprise would 
make a handle of your relaxing any degree of the 
rigid requirements of your service. 

IV. A plan. 1. Introduce a nevj branch of the 
diaconate, known and understood to have no reference 
to advancement to the other orders. Not forbidding 
such advancement ; but making the requirements (in 
case of desire for advancement) for admission to the 
higher diaconate as rigid as though the candidate were 
from the lay ranks. 

2. Institute a course of instruction of one year for 
these evangelist deacons, conducted by the Bishops in 
their own Dioceses ; or otherwise. You may get some 
good hints on the proper course of instruction from 
our brethren in France and Geneva. About this I 
will communicate farther, if it shall become desirable. 

3. Let these deacons be supported by a missionary 
fund. 

4. Make the tests of doctrine, government, ritual, 
§c, as Catholic as possible. 

5. Begin with an experimental class. There will 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 425 

probably be some friction with new machinery. Have 
it so small that you can closely observe it, and readily 
remedy any observed defect. Choose your men with 
great care and prayer. Eschew favouritism or place- 
making. Get the men who can do the work, and who 
will do it. 

My prayers are with you for the most eminent 
success. Oh when will Zion appear to be what she is, 
one and not many ! 

I shall always be happy to hear from you, and to 
help you, when such a thing becomes a possibility. 



FROM A BAPTIST DIVINE. 

My Dear Friend : — 

Yours was duly received, but the Memorial has not 
arrived. I presume that I must know something of 
what you are thinking about, and will answer you at 
once, lest, in the pressure of the week, I may not be 
able to do it. I cannot write on a plan, but must put 
down things as they occur to me. 

The present state of the Christian Church, and its 
relations to the world, is anomalous, and almost shock- 
ing to a Christian. Especially is this the case in this 
country. Here is no persecution ; the Word of God 
is open ; ministers more numerous than in any Protest- 
ant country, and working ministers than in any Papal 

36* 



426 The Memorial Papers. 

country, I presume. There is nothing visible to pre- 
vent the universal dominion of Christianity ; and what 
is the result ? The number of professors of religion 
is diminishing in all our sects. The Churches are 
coming to a stand for want of ministers. There is 
hardly a distinction observable between Christians and 
other men in practice, so far as all the forms of world- 
liness are concerned. The conscience of Christians, 
in too large a proportion of cases, is below the average 
of men who have no guide but natural conscience. 
Let a case arise in which Christians and other men 
come into contact, and the Christian w T ill do things 
w T hich an honourable man would despise. To ask an 
honourable man of no profession to be converted, 
meaning that he should be such a man as many whom 
he sees professing Christianity, would be, frequently, 
hardly less than insulting. Hence, infidelity abounds 
and waxes strong. Humanity is rather showing itself 
out of the Church than in it. Men care more for 
their political parties than for the precepts of Christ ; 
and on every political question, in Congress and out 
of it, sacrifice the one to the other. 

This is abnormal. Christ and his Apostles never 
contemplated it. In twenty or thirty years, at the 
present rate of diminution, the candlestick will be 
removed out of its place. 

What is the cause ? Bear with me while I suggest 
a few things. 

1. The wrong notions of the ministry. We are 
mad on a learned ministry. We shut out all but quasi 



Non -Episcopal Divines. 427 

learned men, and thus make a ministerial caste. The 
result is that the laity leave all the work of religion 
to the clergy ; they doing nothing but going to church 
and paying the bills. The masses of our Churches are 
perfectly quiescent ; and they consider it their duty 
to be so. This is wholly in opposition to the principles 
of Christianity. It demands that the whole mass be 
individually active ; all engaged in the same design — 
the conversion of the world ; this taking precedence 
of everything eke. Our notions of the ministry break 
all this down. 

2. We are blessed with a large supply of very small 
men, who suppose that this ministerial office makes 
them great. Hence they magnify its importance, 
while they are rendering it perfectly effete. They 
have no professional enthusiasm ; their labour is to 
build up a good society, have a good edifice, good 
singers, respectable hearers, and a comfortable living. 
The Church has no conversions, and no hold on the 
masses. The most successful church building is that 
which excludes the poor by necessity. 

This, I believe, is caused to a great degree by the 
education societies. The ministry has become elee- 
mosynary, and able men keep out of it. It is the 
resort of moderate men, who, thus brought up, bow 
before wealth, and are destitute of all moral courage. 
But what is to be done ? 

1. Rouse the masses, and set as many as possible 
to preaching. Break down this notion of clerical 
assumption and priesthood, and show every man that 



428 The Memorial Papers. 

he must be a propagandist of Christianity. I send 
you a sermon, preached a year ago, lest I should have 
not sent it before. This gives my views on this 
point. 

The Episcopal Church has been considered as the 
head of the view which I deplore. If you can turn 
and strike for the masses, and honestly labour for the 
poor, and set your people in earnest for advancing 
Christianity, you will have the first goings in. You 
will revolutionize the American Church by your 
example. You have some facilities for it. You have 
an order of deacons. I would carry this out to the 
utmost, and have lay-deacons — that is men, engaged 
in other work, who preach and labour. 

You have responses involving the principle that the 
whole congregation unites in worship. I would extend 
this to congregational singing. I would have several 
deacons in every Church, labouring in the outskirts, 
and among the poor, establishing thus new Churches, 
or leading men to the old ones. I would render it 
easier to enter the ministry, by encouraging ministers 
to take students and keep them out of the seminaries, 
which make anything but pastors and real working 
ministers. 

If you can carry this, the other denominations 
must follow you ; and I believe a new era will arise. 
Our sermons are general abstract discussions that, 
except by miracle, could convert no one, for they 
never mean to. It is as bad as reading a lecture on 
caloric to put out a house on fire, Christianity bows to 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 429 

the ground before the world, and receives her reward. 
She casts her pearls before swine, and they trample 
them under foot (which is the meaning of the passage). 
There is no opposition, no persecution ; for there is in 
Christianity nothing to oppose or persecute. 

Such, in brief, is my view. I hope your Church 
will set the example. Coming from you, it would take 
us all in the flank, and would spread like wild-fire, 
or else you would eat us all up. If I can do anything, 
I will cheerfully co-operate with you. I do not know 
that I have written on the points you wish ; but I know 
you must have heard and seen these things. Let me 
know how it strikes you. I will join hands with any 
one, and specially with you, in labouring for some 
new movement in our churches. If what we see is all 
Christianity can do, it is a failure. May God bless 
and prosper you. 



FROM A GERMAN REFORMED CLERGYMAN. 

To the Right Reverend Bishop A. Potter, D. D. 

Right Reverend and Dear Sir : — 

Your favour of the 22d of this month has come to 
hand this evening. I sincerely regret that you were 

prevented from making the intended visit to . 

I would be very happy, and I can say the same in 
behalf of Mrs. , if you could on some future 



430 The Memorial Papers. 

occasion carry out your recent intention, that we 
iniglif speak more fully on the important topics to 
which you allude, as well as many other points of 
common interest. 

And now I will endeavour, as far as the brief space 
of a letter will permit, to express my view, agreeably 
to your request, on the grave questions which are now 
before the Protestant Episcopal Church of this country, 
and will claim the attention of the Commission of 
Bishops at their approaching session, in Newport. I 
venture upon the subject, with all modesty, of course, 
as a simple outsider, but with the kindest feelings 
towards your communion, which I always regarded as 
one of the most important branches of Christ's King- 
dom on earth, and as holding a strong conservative, I 
may say, in some sense, a central position between the 
opposite extremes of Romanism and Ultra-Protest- 
antism in this country. As regards the German Re- 
formed Church, to which I more immediately belong, 
it stands, as it were, between the Episcopal and the 
Presbyterian bodies, and sympathizes to a very con- 
siderable extent with the Anglican theology and mode 
of worship. We are just now engaged in the prepara- 
tion of a new Liturgy, for public and private worship. 
The Committee have spent much conscientious labour 
upon the subject, and proceeded on the principle of 
combining the best elements of Catholic worship, as 
far as they are not contradictory, but supplementary to 
the evangelical spirit (such as the (Ecumenical Creeds, 
the Gloria in Excelsis, the Te Deum, the Litany, the 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 431 

Collects, all revised from, and reproduced in, the spirit 
of the Greek and Latin original), with the most valu- 
able liturgical productions of the Continental and # 
English Reformation, critically sifted and occasionally 
altered or modified, without thereby excluding free 
prayer from public, and much less from private devo- 
tions, but rather as a general directory and regulator 
for both. Thus we may have, for instance, liturgical 
worship in the morning, and free prayer in the evening 
services ; or Bible lectures, catechetical classes, &c. 
As soon as the work is completed, which I hope will 
be before the close of this year, I shall take great 
pleasure in sending you a copy, and should be happy 
to learn your views upon it. For it will be for the 
present simply a Provisional Liturgy, and thus be 
open to various suggestions, improvements, and altera- 
tions for several years to come. 

As we thus make not only an individual, but even a 
denominational approach, in a certain sense, to a more 
liturgical mode of worship (in which movement we 
have the sympathies of some of the best and strongest 
men in the Presbyterian Church, although as a body 
they are as yet very decidedly opposed to all forms of 
prayer, from a deep-settled prejudice that they must 
necessarily tend to formalism), you can easily see that 
we must feel a deep interest in a movement in your 
Church, which seems to meet us half-way by an attempt 
to graft upon your liturgical system the advantages of 
evangelical freedom in the sphere of worship. 

If I apprehend rightly the nature of this movement, 



432 The Memorial Papers. 

as explained in Dr. Muhlenberg's Memorial (a copy 
of which the venerable author had the kindness to 
,send me some time since, but which, unfortunately, I 
must have lost by lending it away), it amounts to this, 
that the Protestant Episcopal Church, without giving 
up any of the advantages of her time-honoured form of 
government and worship, should yet relax the exclu- 
sive rigour of this form, and allow a sufficient amount 
of freedom to the clergy, to adapt the Church to the 
great mass of the people, instead of being confined 
almost, as is now too much the case, to a particular 
class of society. 

If this is the nature of the movement, I would give 
it my hearty support, were I a member of your com- 
munion. It seems to me such a modification and 
extension of your system would be followed with no 
serious injury, and with very material benefits, of 
which I may be allowed to mention the following : — 

1. It would give your clergy more freedom of action, 
bring them nearer to the people and their peculiar 
wants and ever-changing conditions, and act as a new 
stimulus upon their zeal, and favour the fullest develop- 
ment of their talents and activity. 

2. It would increase the efficiency of your Church, 
and adapt it better to the spiritual wants of the large 
mass of our native and foreign born population. 

3. It would especially secure, or favourably dispose, 
to you a very important, and perhaps increasing class 
of the religious community, which are dissatisfied with 
the unchurchly and unsacramental features of the 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 433 

Puritanic denominations, and yet are so thoroughly 
anti-papal in their views and sentiments that any real 
or seeming approach in that direction repels them, 
so that they are deprived of a proper spiritual home. 

4. It would do away with what I may be permitted 
to call the most objectionable features of the present 
Episcopacy in the eyes of Non-Episcopalians, who 
regard its rigorous exclusiveness and high claims, as 
ill-founded in history, as pedantic and uncharitable. 

5. For this very reason, it would also prepare the 
way for a closer union amongst the Reformed Churches, 
and help to strengthen the cause of Evangelical Pro- 
testantism against the two opposite dangers of Roman- 
ism and infidelity. 

Although I have no hopes myself of a speedy cure 
of the deplorable divisions in the visible Church, yet 
I pray for it most heartily, and am confident that 
every well-meant and wise effort in that direction will* 
not be in vain. The Reformation of the sixteenth 
century was prepared, in various ways, several hundred 
years before it actually took place, and Christianity 
itself was preceded by four thousand years of positive 
and negative, direct and indirect, divine and human 
preparation, going back to the first promise of the vic- 
tory of the woman's seed over the serpent's head. 

If such an expansion of the Anglican Church is to 
take place, it must proceed from this country. Rut I 
am confident it will affect, in the end, the Mother 
Church, in England. The peculiar features of your 
government and discipline, the regular lay-representa- 

37 



434 The Memorial Papers. 

tion in your Diocesan and General Conventions, have 
already the approbation of some of the most eminent 
Bishops and Divines of the Anglican Establishment 
(even the High Church Bishop, Wilberforce), who labour 
now, and will succeed ultimately, although not speedily, 
in restoring the self-government, with lay-representa- 
tion, of the Church of England. I should think that 
corresponding modifications of your mode of worship 
will meet with similar favour, especially amongst the 
Broad Church School (I think they can hardly be 
called a party), as far as I may infer from personal 
intercourse with the late Archdeacon Hare, Professor 
Trench,* and others, and amongst the more liberal and 
enlightened of members of the High Church and Low 
Church Parties. 

In Germany, and on the Continent generally, such 
a movement will be viewed in a favourable light, and 
will contribute to restore that harmony and kind feel- 
ing which existed in the sixteenth century between the 
Reformed Churches of the Continent and of England, 
a fact which, of itself, is sufficient to show that sub- 
stantially they stand on the same basis, and should 
therefore co-operate for the same high ends. 

* The great popularity of Trench's writings amongst Non- 
Episcopalians is owing partly to the very fact that he is free 
from all exclusiveness and pedantry, and yet perfectly sound 
and orthodox. He proves that one can "be a devoted Episcopa- 
lian without unchurching Non-Episcopalian communions, and 
do the more good on that account. The same was the case with 
Archbishop Leighton, who, though dead, still speaketh. 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 435 

Hoping that the Episcopal Commission, at their 
approaching Conference, may be guided by Divine 
Wisdom, and arrive at results which are calculated to 
promote the glory of God and the best interests of His 
Holy Catholic Church, 

I am, with great respect, &c. 



PROM A METHODIST DIVINE. 

To the Right Reverend Bishop Potter. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : — 

Upon returning from the West a few days ago, I 
found your letter to me of the 16th inst. : also the 
printed Memorial that you directed your secretary to 
send, and which I understand you wish to be consi- 
dered as a part of your communication to me. I have 
read both papers with very great pleasure; partly 
because they refer to matters that have often been 
suggested to my own mind, and which I have thought 
were of great interest to the Church of God; and 
chiefly because they indicate that the same matters 
have strongly attracted the attention of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church. Your letter and the Memorial 
present the same very important questions for consi- 
deration, viz. : — 

1. " What steps might and ought (in my judgment) 



436 The Memorial Papers. 

to be taken by the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
order to make her more useful as an Evangelist to the 
ignorant and neglected?" 

2. " And, also, as a peace-maker among the diverse 
and too hostile sections of Christendom at large, and 
especially Protestant Christendom?" 

You ask what, in my judgment, might and ought to 
be done by the Protestant Episcopal Church, in view 
of these two questions. The frankness of your in- 
quiry sets me at liberty to speak frankly. And to 
the first question. 

I have always regarded the Church of England as 
the central frame-work and life of Protestantism in 
Great Britain and her dependencies : and I have re- 
garded the Protestant Episcopal Church in America 
as containing the same elements of durability and life. 
But I have judged that the constant subjection of the 
Church of England to the supervision of the State, 
without sufficient independence of action in her 
ministry and officers, has very much curtailed her 
power to evangelize the people ; because she presents 
herself to them not so much as the messenger and 
minister of God, as the agent of the State. She does 
not speak to them so much in love as by authority. 

In this respect the Protestant Episcopal Church 
has the advantage of the Church of England in using 
her power for the evangelization of the people. She 
does not address them under colour of authority from 
the State, but as " moved by the Holy Ghost" to 
preach the Gospel to them. And yet I believe it is 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 437 

generally conceded, that neither in England nor in 
the United States, has the Church fully accomplished 
her great mission to the masses of the people. She 
has not accomplished it even to the extent some other 
churches have done. I ask myself then, why has she 
failed when she has the essential elements of durability 
and life in her organization, in her teaching, and in 
her worship ? The answer is, — She is hindered by 
external restraints. She is not at liberty to approach 
the masses of the people in her public service, in the 
places and under the circumstances in which they 
actually exist, and to speak and minister to them as 
their varied conditions require. She prescribes too 
rigidly the manner of her service at all times, in all 
places, and under all circumstances. She does not 
allow sufficient room and liberty for the heart and 
mind of the minister and of the man to speak out 
under the impulsive influences of the Divine Spirit 
and the inspiration of the occasion. She assumes 
that all the varied conditions of humanity are suscep- 
tible to her prescribed forms of worship ; and does 
not sufficiently allow and direct that, retaining the 
substance of the faith, and observing the simple de- 
cency of religion, the particular minister and the 
local Church should add to her stated public worship 
such further service in public or in private as the con- 
dition of the congregation or of the family or the 
individual needing Divine aid, may require. This 
additional and extraneous service to be performed by 
the particular minister or local Church, at discretion 
37* 



438 The Memorial Papers. 

and in view of the circumstances, is the proper means 
of carrying the Gospel into the midst of the masses, 
and applying it to their hearts. It is the militant 
department of the Church, and is designed for con- 
quest, in order to bring the people whom it may in- 
fluence into the region of the regular and well-ordered 
Church. Here it is that by her excellent government 
and order, and by her Scriptural and beautiful 
Liturgy, the Church is admirably calculated to cherish 
and edify those whose hearts have been drawn to her, 
or whose civil and Christian education lead them to 
attend upon her public worship. 

If these views be correct, and they are the products 
of much thought for years past, the problem which I 
judge the Protestant Episcopal Church is called to 
solve, is this, viz. : To preserve her essential ecclesi- 
astical organization and her order of public worship, 
as her central frame-work and life ; and yet allow and 
encourage individual ministers and Churches to add 
to her stated public worship, in the congregation 
assembled in the Church, and in other places, and in 
private families, or in respect to individuals, such dis- 
cretionary services as they may be prompted to per- 
form by their own feelings and judgment in view of 
each case. 

I am of opinion that this problem could be solved 
very easily and with great advantage to the Church. 
Nor can I see that any evil or embarrassment need 
come. It would not be necessary, in my judgment, 
to prescribe any particular rules for these services. 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 439 

What they should be, and how they should be con- 
ducted, might well be left to the discretion of the 
minister and his vestry, under the general oversight 
of the Bishop. All that would be necessary would be 
to formally recommend such a course, and to give it 
countenance in proportion as it was found to be pro- 
fitable. To prescribe or enjoin these extra and dis- 
cretionary services might be productive of harm. 
The minister or Church might be opposed to them : 
and if not opposed, yet might have no heart or tact 
in such services. The true plan is, to let these extra 
discretionary services spring out of the local wants 
and prevailing feeling and spirit in each church and 
congregation. In this way the life of the Church 
would be manifested under the restraints and direction 
of her fixed order and worship, and under the im- 
pulses and liberties of the heart and the occasion. 
External decency and internal growth would be ob- 
tained. 

Before I dismiss this first and main question, I will 
add : So firmly have I been convinced of these views, 
that I have occasionally mentioned them to our 
ministers and chief members, and to our Bishops; 
suggesting that our services were too exclusively ex- 
tempore and impulsive : that while we should pre- 
serve the freedom and earnestness which have cha- 
racterized us as a Church, and given us great popular 
influence, we yet needed a more formal and stable 
public service, in view of the culture of the vast mul- 
titudes now attending upon our ministry. I am of 



440 The Memorial Papers. 

opinion that the Methodist Episcopal Church will yet 
provide a liturgy for her people, to be used in public 
worship by those local churches which may prefer to 
have a stated morning and evening service. And if 
we can retain our peculiar freedom and earnestness 
in the department of preaching, and in other services 
adapted to the varying wants of the people, and add 
to these the precision and stability of a liturgical ser- 
vice in the congregation, we shall have done for our 
Church what I judge ought to be done for the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church to give her greater efficiency 
among the masses. I have mentioned our own Church 
for two reasons : First, to indicate that the question 
is one of growth in every church, and will make itself 
respected ; Secondly, to show you the difference be- 
tween our Church and yours on the question in hand, 
viz. : you have the permanent public service, and are 
required to provide for the discretionary ; we have, 
essentially, the discretionary services, and are required 
to provide the permanent public service. Success in 
either case will be attended with great good ; but I 
am inclined to think that your Church would accom- 
plish more in this way than ours ; because you have 
the prestige of history, authority, and position. 

The second question is one of no less importance, 
and is of more general interest than the first : and yet 
it is one of some delicacy. I will be frank in regard 
to this also. 

The Circular looks to the Protestant Episcopal 
Church becoming the " central bond of union among 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 441 

Christians ;" and you suggest whether or not she may 
become "a peace-maker among the diverse and too 
hostile sections of Protestant Christians.' ' These 
quotations are pregnant with a great and glowing 
problem ; and I may say, in the very outset, that I 
have been accustomed to suppose that, if it could be 
solved successfully at all, the central element in its 
solution would be found in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. Being a direct off-shoot from the Church 
of England, and bearing in herself, as she does, the 
order, authority, doctrines, and forms of public wor- 
ship of this Church which is the mother of the great 
mass of the Protestant Churches of this land, she 
occupies, historically, a central position in reference 
to this question. Her doctrines and forms of public 
worship, with the liberty and practice suggested in 
the preceding part of this communication, are suffi- 
ciently general in their terms to allow such varieties 
of opinion and practice as might well satisfy the gene- 
ral body of Christians. 

But there is an almost insurmountable difficulty in 
the way of the solution of this great and interesting 
problem : and I will state it frankly. It is the pre- 
vailing exclusiveness of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church with reference to the validity of her ministry. 
There is a general, and I believe growing impression 
abroad, that the Protestant Episcopal Church is gra- 
dually settling down into the conclusion that the 
ministries of other churches are invalid, and that the 
Sacraments ought not to be received at their hands ; 



442 The Memorial Papers. 

that the other Protestant Churches of this land are 
not sound, healthful Gospel or Scriptural Churches. 
And hence the constant avoidance on the part of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, of any act or measure 
which tends to a recognition of any of the other Pro- 
testant Churches as such. My office calls me through- 
out the length and breadth of this land every year, 
and I have a good opportunity of observing the public 
sentiment and feeling on this delicate and vital point ; 
and I am bound to say, this position of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church is deeply regretted, not only in 
view of the fact that the great body of the people are 
in fellowship with other Churches, and the community 
feel that they are well served and safe in this respect ; 
but also in view of what every intelligent and ob- 
serving mind must see is coming upon us, viz. : a 
fearful struggle between the Roman Catholic Church 
(which would annihilate us all) and the Protestant 
Churches. In view of this great contest, it is felt 
throughout the Protestant Churches, that it is a great 
misfortune that the Protestant Episcopal Church 
should put all the other Churches at fault by denying 
or refusing to accept the validity of their ministries. 
The other Protestant Churches do not call in question 
the validity of the ministry of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church ; and they feel, but do not ask, that the 
validity of their ministries should not be called in 
question. 

In answer to the question, then, viz. : How may 
the Protestant Episcopal Church become the "cen- 



Non-Episcopal Divines. 443 

tral bond of union among Christians,' ' and " a peace- 
maker among the Protestant Churches/' I answer, — 

First, Let her allow and advise the discretionary 
services suggested in the former part of this commu- 
nication. This will modify her fixed prescribed posi- 
tion and form which exclude her now from the ever 
variously conditioned masses of the people, and bring 
her into the region of freedom and earnestness of 
action where the other Churches have accomplished 
much, if not most, of what they have accomplished. 
And in this respect she will be placed in sympathy 
with them ; and they will be drawn toward her rather 
than she toward them, by the prestige of her order, 
authority, and position. 

Secondly, Let her, while she prefers and holds as 
of best authority and most efficient, her own ordina- 
tion and orders of the ministry, accept and respect 
the validity of the ministries in the other Protestant 
Churches. These I understand to have been the 
views of the English Reformers. They allowed the 
validity of the orders of the Reformed Churches on 
the Continent. Such a declaration, either by action 
or in form, would not in any degree invalidate the 
ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, but 
would bring her directly into the circle of sympathy 
of the other Evangelical Protestant Churches, from 
which, according to the common feeling, she now ex- 
cludes herself. Coming thus into the sympathetic 
circle of the other Evangelical Protestant Churches, 
she would become the centre of them all by the same 



444 The Memorial Papers, 

order, authority, and position already spoken of. It 
would be the work of time, but surely she would thus 
become the " central bond of union among Protestant 
Christians' ' of this land. May I add without offence? 
She never can, in my judgment, attain this position, 
or render this great service in any other way. And 
if she fails in this high career offered to her, I do not 
now see how the " diverse and too hostile sections of 
Protestant Christendom" can be marshalled for the 
struggle which is evidently coming with the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

If, Reverend and Dear Sir, I have spoken too freely, 
allow your candour and confidence, together with the 
magnitude of the subject, to be my apology. You 
are at liberty to use this communication, or any part 
of it, as you may judge best for the ends sought. The 
matter will be regarded as private, so far as I am 
concerned. If anything I have written shall contri- 
bute in any degree to solve the two questions you 
have proposed, I shall be thankful to God, the Author 
of all good. 

May God grant you wisdom and grace for your 
many and arduous duties. 

I am, Reverend and Dear Sir, 

Yours respectfully. 

June 30, 1854. 

THE END. 



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